Immigration Minister says that NGOs and migration lawyers play the system
The Immigration Minister, Phil Woolas MP, was interviewed in the Guardian newspaper where he was quoted as saying that the blame for long appeals processes lay with refugee organisations and lawyers.
Donna Covey, Chief Executive of the Refugee Council responded: "Having your asylum claim rejected does not make you an economic migrant. We see refused asylum seekers every day - they have come here in good faith, but many do not meet the UK's strict criteria for asylum. Others do have genuine protection needs, but have been failed by a system where initial decision making can still be poor. For some nationalities, such as Eritreans and Somalis, almost half of refused asylum seekers have their cases upheld on appeal. These are people who would be in danger of persecution such as murder, torture or rape if sent back to the repressive regimes they are fleeing. The appeals process is a vital safety net for these people.”
The minister’s remarks were also criticised by the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, who said: “For any honorable member to suggest that someone who has made out reasonable grounds, and has succeeded in their appeal under the due process of law ‘has no right to be in this country’ is a worrying development.”
For the full Refugee Council response, see Covey responds to Immigration Minister’s attacks
The Guardian: ‘You can’t come in’
The Guardian: Asylum-seeker charities are just playing the system, says Woolas
The Telegraph: Lawyers hit out at Phil Woolas over claims asylum seeker charities are playing the system
The Guardian: Response: Phil Woolas should blame his own department, not asylum lawyers
BBC News: Sentamu attacks Woolas on asylum
Plans to block access to judicial review
The power to block access to judicial review for some asylum seekers who are facing deportation was announced by Immigration Minister Phil Woolas to MPs.
Lin Homer, Head of the UK Border Agency, told the Home Affairs select committee: “We will prevent repeat judicial reviews rather than close them down altogether.”
There has been legal opposition to the proposals with the Law Society saying that the allegation that appeals are pursued to prolong a person’s stay was a mistake when so many of the UK Border Agency’s initial decisions were overturned. Labour MP David Winnick was reported as saying that judicial oversight of executive decisions was an important principle, otherwise the executive was acting as judge and jury.
The Guardian: Woolas plans to curb high court role in deportation cases
Quarterly asylum statistics released
There were 6,620 asylum applications between July and September, which compares to 5,720 between April and June and 6, 595 between January and March of this year, showing that the number of applications remains steady.
Full Refugee Council response to third quarterly asylum statistics
UK Border Agency press release
The Guardian: Immigration falls and set to decline further in recession
Plan to fly Afghan refugees from Calais stopped
The French government cancelled a flight that would have removed some Afghan refugees from Calais and back to their home country.
In a statement, the French authorities said there had been a “legal difficulty” relating to the flight and “it appears that all the conditions of security, for all the people who were likely to be returned home, were not guaranteed.”.
The Telegraph: French scupper British plans to deport illegal immigrants from Calais
International Herald Tribune: France decides not to deport group of 43 migrants
Court of Appeal rules minister’s detention power is limited
The Court Appeal ruled that a minister’s power to place an overstaying immigrant in detention was limited to the amount of time that was reasonably necessary to carry out the process of deportation. The Court also ruled that detention under immigration provisions was subject to the control of the courts, chiefly through judicial review.
The Times: Minister’s unsupervised detention power limited
Mayor of London and Archbishop back amnesty for illegal immigrants
Boris Johnson, Mayor of London and Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor, head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, have both backed an amnesty for people who have been living illegally in Britain for several years.
Johnson has ordered a study of the potential benefits of allowing people who gained entry illegally, arguing that he is not seeking to set up incentives for illegal immigration, but to regularise and decriminalise those already in the system.
"You don't want to create moral hazard, but I think you should have a system whereby people who have been here for a long time can earn a way out of the mess they're in," he said.
The Independent: Archbishop backs amnesty for Britain’s illegal immigrants
The Independent: Talking sense on immigration
Human Rights Watch release damning report on how refugees are treated in Greece
According to a report by the charity Human Rights Watch, the Greek authorities try to stop refugees entering the Greek border, systematically detain those who do make it across, block access to asylum procedures and regularly deport people to Turkey.
The report recommends that other EU states refrain from returning people seeking asylum to Greece as stated under the Dublin II regulations.
Download the report from the Human Rights Watch website
Detention centres fail to meet children’s medical needs
An editorial in medical journal The Lancet warns that children held in detention centres are not getting access to the healthcare they need.
BBC News: Detention centres ‘fail on health’
The Lancet: Health care for children in UK detention centres
Protest in London calls on a halt to deportation to the DRC
About 100 people gathered in London on Friday 21 November to deliver a petition to Downing Street calling for a halt to deportations to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Voice of America: Protesters Gather in London to Stop Expulsion of DRC Refugees
The Independent: Congo refugees call for UK judges to show mercy
Allegation of assault by British security guards
A Cameroonian man has complained that he was assaulted by immigration officials on the two occasions they attempted to remove him from the UK. Anselme Noumbiwa has been told by the UK Border Agency that “a senior officer will now investigate” his complaint.
The Independent: Asylum-seeker ‘was assaulted by security men during deportation’
New book on refugees to Britain published to mark 75th anniversary of CARA
A new book, The Refuge and the Fortress by Jeremy Seabrook, has been published to mark Council for Assisting Refugee Academics (CARA)’s 75th anniversary. The book charts British reactions to refugees from 1915 to the present, as well as the achievements and contributions of refugee academics in the UK.
The Times: They escaped the knock at the door and went on to win Nobel prizes
The Independent: Review of The Refuge and the Fortress
EU agrees to accept 10,000 Iraqi refugees
The BBC reported that Interior EU ministers agreed to accept up to 10,000 refugees from Iraq, after receiving a new report on worsening conditions in refugee camps in Syria and Jordan.
BBC News: EU ready to accept 10,000 Iraqis
UK government criticised for deporting HIV patients
The African HIV Policy Network is campaigning against people being deported from the UK to countries where they may not have access to the treatment they need to stay alive.
“I think when you have got someone who has been put on treatment here and then they are removed back to a country where they can’t get treatment, it is virtually a death sentence,” Neil Gerrard MP, chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on refugees who is supporting the campaign said.
Visit the African HIV Policy Network’s website
The Guardian: Britain is criticised for deporting HIV patients
Voucher system attacked by campaign groups in Parliament
Jonathan Ellis, director of policy and development at the Refugee Council told a Parliamentary meeting: “Unprompted by us, time and time again, people said they wanted to work.
“Why are we forcing people to live on the vouchers in a way that we ourselves could not do?”
One World UK: ‘Inhumane’ asylum voucher system to be attacked
