- Home Office "failing to respect" asylum-seekers' legal rights in "relentless" drive to deport them Archived Message
Posted by sashimi
on October 19, 2020, 12:12 am
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(quote) The Home Office is "failing to respect" the legal rights of asylum-seekers in its "relentless" drive to deport them as quickly as possible, lawyers and campaigners have told the Morning Star. Immigration lawyers have seen a rise in "poorly made decisions" by the department to deport asylum-seekers on charter flights. A new wave of deportations has specifically targeted asylum-seekers who cross the Channel in small boats. Dozens of people have been returned to EU member countries as part of Home Secretary Priti Patel's pledge to deport 1,000 refugees before the end of the year. Since August, charter flights have taken place at a rate of almost two per week. Removals are being carried out under the Dublin III Regulation which allows a state to return asylum-seekers to any "safe" country the migrant had passed through on their way to Britain. There are exceptions to this rule, such as if asylum applicants are trafficking victims, have close family members or ties in the country or have severe medical conditions. ... Ms Patel has claimed that removals were being "frustrated" by "last-minute legal claims." But new research suggests that asylum-seekers are being denied legal advice until a few days before they are due to be deported. Disturbingly, the report, which takes in the experiences of asylum-seekers held in the Yarl's Wood facility, also suggests that the Home Office has made no attempt to identify whether people might have a right to stay in the country. Records of asylum screening interviews, shared with campaign group Movement for Justice, showed that in six cases there were "a significant number of questions marked 'not asked,' including questions about torture, trafficking and family in the UK." Antonia Bright of the group told the Star: "[The questions are] on their forms, but they chose not to ask. That is how they've chosen to conduct the system. It's setting them up to fail." The report, which is based on four weeks of interviews with 20 people held at Yarl's Wood in September, suggests that a lack of legal support is making it difficult for asylum-seekers to challenge decisions to remove them, even if such decisions are unlawful. Duncan Lewis said it was regularly seeing asylum-seekers who have not received legal advice until after they were given removal directions. The firm expressed "serious concerns" about refugees' access to justice. ... Movement for Justice maintain that during this process, asylum-seekers' ability to seek legal advice is "frustrated" at "every stage" by the Home Office in order to create a "Dover to deportation pipeline." The campaigners found that asylum-seekers in Yarl's Wood IRC were not able to get a solicitor. Some were given a list of numbers of solicitors and legal groups after several days but lack of phone credit and language difficulties meant it was "impossible for them to secure representation," the group said. (/quote) -- Cont'd at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/home-office-failing-to-respect-asylum-seekers-legal-rights-in-relentless-drive-to-deport-them |
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