‘Avtar Singh caught after raising suspicions by accessing translation app to communicate with future Czech wife.’
Daily Telegraph, 12th January 2015
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘The Home Office has quietly tightened up the criteria for granting British citizenship under the good character test. This had passed me by so I thought it useful to flag up – and many thanks to Alex Moran for point it out. A number of undesirable behaviours have been added to the list of disqualifying behaviour, including illegal entry, assisting illegal migration and evasion of immigration control. The changes seem to have been made on 11 December 2014. The previous version of the guidance can be seen here and the new version here.’
Free Movement, 8th January 2015
Source: www.freemovement.org.uk
‘More than 600 children, the majority under 12 years old, have been put in detention under immigration rules in the four years since the Government claimed to have ended the controversial practice.’
The Independent, 8th January 2015
Source: www.independent.co.uk
‘Nearly 800 foreign criminals are being kicked out of the country as tough new ‘deport first, appeal later’ measures start to have an impact.’
Home Office, 6th January 2015
Source: www.gov.uk/home-office
‘It has been described as the “black hole at the heart of British justice”. Thousands of people, most of whom have been convicted of no crime, detained for as long as government officials wish.’
The Independent, 6th January 2015
Source: www.independent.co.uk
‘Provisions in the Exceptional Funding Guidance (Non-Inquests), issued by the Lord Chancellor under section 4 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, although correctly identifying many of the particular factors which were to be taken into account by the Director of Legal Aid Casework and legal aid caseworkers in deciding whether to make an exceptional case determination for legal aid in a particular case, mis-stated the discretion conferred by section 10(3)(b) of the 2012 Act, and failed to comply with both article 6(1) of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, by impermissibly sending a clear signal to the director and the caseworkers that the refusal of legal aid would amount to a breach only in rare and exceptional cases.’
WLR Daily, 15th December 2014
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘Newly released Home Office figures show that 3,378 people have been detained under divisive immigration laws – including some held for years.’
Daily Telegraph, 5th January 2015
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘The official report of the UN special rapporteur on violence against women, Rashida Manjoo, will censure the UK government for preventing her from inspecting Yarl’s Wood detention centre in Bedfordshire.’
Full story
The Guardian, 3rd January 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘The Court of Appeal has ruled that the Lord Chancellor’s Guidance on exceptional funding in civil legal aid is incompatible with the right of access to justice under Article 6 of the ECHR and Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. The Court has further decided that this Guidance was not compatible with Article 8 of the ECHR in immigration cases; in other words, that legal aid should not be refused when applicants for entry to the UK seek to argue that refusal of entry would interfere with their right to respect for private and family life.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 17th December 2014
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘An Old Bailey judge refused to allow a jury to hear about dozens of “grossly offensive and undoubtedly racist” text messages on the phones of two of the G4S security guards acquitted of killing Jimmy Mubenga because they did not have “any real relevance” to the trial.’
The Guardian, 17th December 2014
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘I’ve now come across two cases in which judges of the First-tier Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber have imposed unwanted anonymity orders on parties without any application or notice. One case is reported here and the other can’t be reported because of, well, the anonymity order. In both cases there was media interest beforehand and the orders acts as a gagging orders, preventing the parties from discussing their case with the media, even though the cases and the identities of the appellants had already been reported. In one of the cases the appellant had a child and that provided the reason or pretext for imposing anonymity. In the other unreported case children are named in the determination but are entirely tangental to the case and could easily have not been named.’
Free Movement, 17th December 2014
Source: www.freemovement.org.uk
‘Guidance on granting legal aid for exceptional immigration cases is “unlawful”, judges have ruled.’
BBC News, 15th December 2014
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘An immigration judge has been forced to resign as a district judge after making a racist remark about a crime victim.’
The Guardian, 7th December 2014
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘Law is pretty abstract. Unlike the role of a doctor or a builder, that of a lawyer is difficult to explain to a young mind. When my children eventually ask me about what I do when I “work” (confusingly simultaneously a place I seem to go to and a thing I do at home; either takes me away from them) my plan is to explain that I help strangers from far off places find new homes. Like Paddington Bear.’
Free Movement, 1st December 2014
Source: www.freemovement.org.uk
‘Home Office will have more time to investigate suspected sham marriages.’
Home Office, 25th November 2014
Source: www.gov.uk/home-office
‘Landlords in the West Midlands who fail to check whether prospective tenants are in the country legally will face a £3,000 fine, under a new rule expected to be rolled out across the UK.’
BBC News, 1st December 2014
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Lurking in the background of many judicial review claims is a complaint that a decision maker has made an error of fact.’
Hardwicke Chambers, 24th November 2014
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
‘It has been announced today [24 November] by Minister for Security and Immigration James Brokenshire that Part 4 of the Immigration Act 2014 is to be brought into full effect on 2 March 2015. This amends the procedure for marriage and civil partnership for everyone (not just foreign nationals) and creates new powers for duties to report sham marriages and the investigation and preventing of sham marriages.’
Free Movement, 24th November 2014
Source: www.freemovement.org.uk
‘Do we need any new laws? Christopher Chope, the Tory MP for Christchurch thinks so. He’s introduced the Illegal Immigrants (Criminal Sanctions) Bill 2014. It is short – only three clauses, and its aim is clear from the title, and this is made clear from the Preamble. This is a Bill to “Make provision for criminal sanctions against those who have entered the UK illegally or who have remained in the UK without legal authority”.’
Halsbury’s Law Exchange, 24th November 2014
Source: www.halsburyslawexchange.co.uk
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