Ahead of Brexit, UK government ramps up deportation of asylum seekers

Ahead of Brexit, the British government is speeding up its asylum seeker processing and the country is scheduled to deport scores of vulnerable immigrants, including suspected victims of trafficking, this week. According to The Guardian, three flights this week, two to Germany and one to France, with a possible transfer to Austria, Poland, Spain, and Lithuania, are planned. The scheduled flights are operating under the EU’s Dublin convention legislation that allows states to return people to an EU country where they have already made an asylum claim, which is a right that the UK retains during the Brexit transition period. 

Now, unless another transfer agreement is agreed with the EU, Britain will no longer be able to forcibly deport asylum seekers who have passed through other EU countries. However, as Home Secretary Priti Patel has ramped up removal operations ahead of Brexit, lawyers acting for those scheduled to be deported on this week’s flight have said that the immigrants haven’t been properly screened to identify serious vulnerabilities. Opposition campaigners have also said that they have evidence that cases are being rushed through to avoid Patel’s own published policy on identifying trafficking victims. 

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'Serious risk of injustice' 

The rights groups monitoring the impending round of flights to the EU have said that the Home Office’s planned operation to remove potential trafficking and torture victims without proper screening is unlawful and breaches a recent interim high court order. An interim high court ruling last month had also said that the Home Office’s failure to ask questions was a “serious risk” of injustice and irreversible harm. While the court ruling ordered the Home Office to reinstate the two questions for arriving asylum seekers, a refugee service in the UK said that they have evidence that the government was planning to deport individuals this week who hadn’t been asked the questions. 

The opposition campaigners have argued that all individuals held in immigration detention have the right to legal advice. However, they also fear that some of the immigrants in this week’s flights will have been unable to challenge their removal. A Home Office spokesperson, on the other hand, said that the UK government is determined to fix the broken asylum system so that it is firm and fair and make no apology for removing those with no right to remain in the UK. The official further added that all individuals due to be removed have or will have been through a screening interview, which included updated questions on trafficking, prior to removal. 

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