From the outside looking in, initial immigration enforcement decisions like that in Glasgow last week to detain a person often seem opportunistic and random rather
To a person in detention, particularly in prison, every day of freedom lost matters and the Defendant needs to be able to justify it. In
The judgment of the Court of Appeal in MR (Pakistan) v Secretary of State for Justice & Others [2021] EWCA Civ 541 marks a major
In R (Lawal) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (death in detention, SoS’s duties) [2021] UKUT 114 (IAC), the Upper Tribunal has decided
The Home Secretary has laid a new draft of the Adults at Risk statutory guidance before Parliament. The new version marks a significant change in
The High Court in SM v Lord Chancellor [2021] EWHC 418 (Admin) has held that free legal advice must be made available to immigration detainees
In an interim relief decision the High Court has ordered the release of an immigration detainee within 48 hours, indicating that judges will not allow
The High Court has upheld the continued detention of an Indian national in a Category B prison on the basis of a high risk of
The High Court has ordered the release on bail of a detainee who is subject to deportation action but suffers from serious mental health problems.
In the case of Mahboubian v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] EWHC 3289 (Admin), the High Court decided that the Home Office
In Ali v Home Office EW Misc 27 (CC) [2020], the County Court robustly dismissed a false imprisonment claim brought by an Afghan refugee who
The Home Office has released new interim guidance on the immigration bail accommodation system. The 15-page document introduces a couple of minor changes to address
The Court of Appeal has rejected an attempt by the Home Office to overturn a High Court order to bring an asylum seeker who had
The Immigration Act 2016 brought about extensive changes to the support available to people on immigration bail. Since those changes came into force in January
The High Court has refused a challenge to the conditions at Brook House Immigration Removal Centre in 2017 on all grounds. This is despite the
After the Hardial Singh principles, the Adults at Risk policy is the most important source of law for securing the release of people from immigration
Data about the operation of Rule 35 of the Detention Centre Rules brought into the public domain by a Freedom of Information request lays bare
In Kaitey v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] EWHC 1861 (Admin), the High Court has confirmed that the power to set immigration
This post explains the Hardial Singh principles, which are the most important limitation on the Home Office’s immigration detention powers. The Hardial Singh principles take
In the case of Merca v SSHD [2020] EWHC 1479 (Admin) the High Court ordered the Home Office to release the claimant within four days. One
The Court of Appeal has rejected a challenge to the £1 an hour rate of pay for detainees who undertake work in immigration removal centres.
A High Court judge has granted immigration bail to an Afghan detainee and made findings which will be helpful to those representing other detainees seeking
The Home Office tried to put pressure on judges to stop releasing migrants from immigration detention, it has emerged. An official letter from the department
David Bolt, the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, has published his first report into the operation of the Adults at Risk policy. It
R (SB (Ghana)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department & Anor [2020] EWHC 668 (Admin) is a successful unlawful detention claim in which
The Supreme Court has found in the case of DN (Rwanda) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] UKSC 7 that the detention
The Court of Appeal in ZA (Pakistan) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] EWCA Civ 146 has made a plea to lawyers
In O3 v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2019] SN/147/2018, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission has confirmed that, just like regular immigration detainees,
In a pointed reminder, perhaps, to those in government threatening to “update” the Human Rights Act, Lady Hale began her Supreme Court judgment in the
The Court of Appeal has given judgment in R (AC (Algeria)) v SSHD [2020] EWCA Civ 36. The case is about “grace periods” in unlawful
The High Court has refused to extend key safeguards under the Adults at Risk policy to immigration detainees held in prisons. In MR (Pakistan) &
Article 2(n) of the Dublin III regulation provides: Member States shall not hold a person in detention for the sole reason that he or she
The Supreme Court has confirmed in the case of Hemmati v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2019] UKSC 56 that the detention of
An immigration detainee who has indefinite leave to remain must apply to their local council for housing benefit rather than for a bail address or
The High Court has decided that rule 35(2) of the Detention Centre Rules is not unlawful, despite acknowledging the overwhelming evidence that it has failed
People in immigration detention can make an application for Secretary of State bail directly to the Home Office. The Home Office has the same powers
The Home Office cannot detain an EU citizen pending deportation without first considering whether detention is “proportionate and necessary” under EU law, the Court of
Tribunal bosses have put their foot down on fast track asylum appeals, refusing the government’s push for an accelerated process for appellants in immigration detention.
This article is about the High Court and Court of Appeal decisions in the leading (and so far only) case on segregation in immigration detention.
The European Court of Human Rights has developed Article 5 ECHR beyond domestic law and potentially created a dramatic increase in the amount of damages
From the outside looking in, initial immigration enforcement decisions like that in Glasgow last week to detain a person often seem opportunistic and random rather than strategic. The result is that the ‘wrong’ people end up being detained. We know this because of the high number of vulnerable people being...
The judgment of the Court of Appeal in MR (Pakistan) v Secretary of State for Justice & Others [2021] EWCA Civ 541 marks a major step forward in the battle over the use of immigration detention in prisons. The court has decided that the absence of a Rule 35 procedure...
In R (Lawal) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (death in detention, SoS’s duties) [2021] UKUT 114 (IAC), the Upper Tribunal has decided that the Home Office’s policies on the death of immigration detainees are contrary to its procedural obligations under Article 2 of the European Convention on...
The Home Secretary has laid a new draft of the Adults at Risk statutory guidance before Parliament. The new version marks a significant change in how trafficking victims fit within the policy framework for detaining vulnerable people. At present, the Home Office has a policy of releasing people from immigration...
The High Court in SM v Lord Chancellor [2021] EWHC 418 (Admin) has held that free legal advice must be made available to immigration detainees held in prisons, bringing access to lawyers into line with the legal advice scheme operating in immigration removal centres (“IRCs”). In a significant loss for...
In an interim relief decision the High Court has ordered the release of an immigration detainee within 48 hours, indicating that judges will not allow the Home Office to use the pandemic as cover to justify long “grace period” delays in releasing detainees. The case is R (Habeb) v Secretary...
The High Court has upheld the continued detention of an Indian national in a Category B prison on the basis of a high risk of absconding and serious criminal convictions, despite detention already lasting well over a year. The case is Singh v Secretary of State for the Home Department...
The High Court has ordered the release on bail of a detainee who is subject to deportation action but suffers from serious mental health problems. Full judgments at the interim relief stage are relatively unusual so R (RS) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWHC 54 (Admin)...
In the case of Mahboubian v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] EWHC 3289 (Admin), the High Court decided that the Home Office couldn’t be held responsible for an eight-month delay in finding immigration bail accommodation for a high-risk offender. The court instead found that pandemic disruption was...
In Ali v Home Office EW Misc 27 (CC) [2020], the County Court robustly dismissed a false imprisonment claim brought by an Afghan refugee who was detained for 98 days under the Detained Fast Track process in 2015. County Court cases are rarely reported and so one might expect something...
The Home Office has released new interim guidance on the immigration bail accommodation system. The 15-page document introduces a couple of minor changes to address the High Court’s damning criticism of the department’s bail accommodation policies in Humnyntskyi v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] EWHC 1912 Admin,...
The Immigration Act 2016 brought about extensive changes to the support available to people on immigration bail. Since those changes came into force in January 2018, tens of thousands of people have struggled against the harsh new system, which has kept many indefinitely detained by the Home Office or has...
The High Court has refused a challenge to the conditions at Brook House Immigration Removal Centre in 2017 on all grounds. This is despite the Home Office having made a number of changes to the regime provided by G4S since then in response to criticism. The decision in R (Soltany)...
After the Hardial Singh principles, the Adults at Risk policy is the most important source of law for securing the release of people from immigration detention. It provides a detailed framework for assessing the vulnerability of detainees and balancing vulnerability against the timetable for removal, the risk of absconding and...
Data about the operation of Rule 35 of the Detention Centre Rules brought into the public domain by a Freedom of Information request lays bare the inadequacies of the current system for reporting vulnerabilities among immigration detainees. The data, obtained by Lewis Kett of Duncan Lewis Solicitors, demonstrates that Rule...
In Kaitey v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] EWHC 1861 (Admin), the High Court has confirmed that the power to set immigration bail conditions exists even when a person cannot be lawfully detained in compliance with the Hardial Singh principles. This is an unsurprising result, since that...
This post explains the Hardial Singh principles, which are the most important limitation on the Home Office’s immigration detention powers. The Hardial Singh principles take their name from the case of R (Hardial Singh) v Governor of Durham Prison [1983] EWHC 1 (QB), an early immigration detention case. Lord Woolf...
In the case of Merca v SSHD [2020] EWHC 1479 (Admin) the High Court ordered the Home Office to release the claimant within four days. One week and two extension of time requests later, the Home Office has now complied with that order. Mr Merca, detained since December 2019, had...
The Court of Appeal has rejected a challenge to the £1 an hour rate of pay for detainees who undertake work in immigration removal centres. In R (Badmus) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] EWCA Civ 657 the court maintained the decision reached by the High Court...
A High Court judge has granted immigration bail to an Afghan detainee and made findings which will be helpful to those representing other detainees seeking release during the COVID-19 crisis. The short judgment in (R) Khan v SSHD CO/1366/2020 provides an example of how judges should proceed in light of...
The Home Office tried to put pressure on judges to stop releasing migrants from immigration detention, it has emerged. An official letter from the department to a top immigration judge said that the Home Office was “somewhat surprised” that judges had agreed to release so many people on immigration bail...
David Bolt, the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, has published his first report into the operation of the Adults at Risk policy. It makes fascinating reading for anyone involved in helping vulnerable adults secure release from detention. The report is balanced and objective, but also highly critical of...
R (SB (Ghana)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department & Anor [2020] EWHC 668 (Admin) is a successful unlawful detention claim in which the High Court was prepared to find a breach of the Hardial Singh principles notwithstanding the claimant’s extremely serious offending history. It is primarily interesting...
The Supreme Court has found in the case of DN (Rwanda) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] UKSC 7 that the detention of a Rwandan man facing deportation was unlawful because the deportation order on which detention was based was itself unlawful. In this case the deportation...
The Court of Appeal in ZA (Pakistan) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] EWCA Civ 146 has made a plea to lawyers to transfer their wrongful detention claims to the Queen’s Bench Division or County Court once the detention issue has been resolved. ZA’s case started life...
In O3 v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2019] SN/147/2018, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission has confirmed that, just like regular immigration detainees, those facing deportation on national security grounds are entitled to a presumption of bail. In deciding whether to grant bail to such detainees, the Commission...
In a pointed reminder, perhaps, to those in government threatening to “update” the Human Rights Act, Lady Hale began her Supreme Court judgment in the case of R (Jalloh) v SSHD [2020] UKSC 4 thus: The right to physical liberty was highly prized and protected by the common law long...
The Court of Appeal has given judgment in R (AC (Algeria)) v SSHD [2020] EWCA Civ 36. The case is about “grace periods” in unlawful detention claims. A grace period, as described by Lord Justice Irwin in his judgment, is that period of time allowed to the Secretary of State,...
The High Court has refused to extend key safeguards under the Adults at Risk policy to immigration detainees held in prisons. In MR (Pakistan) & Anor v Secretary of State for Justice & Ors [2019] EWHC 3567 (Admin), Mr Justice Supperstone decided that healthcare protections for vulnerable detainees on the...
Article 2(n) of the Dublin III regulation provides: Member States shall not hold a person in detention for the sole reason that he or she is subject to the procedure established by this Regulation. When there is a significant risk of absconding, Member States may detain the person concerned in...
The Supreme Court has confirmed in the case of Hemmati v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2019] UKSC 56 that the detention of asylum seekers for their removal to other EU states under the Dublin Regulation was unlawful between 1 January 2014 and 15 March 2017, when new...
An immigration detainee who has indefinite leave to remain must apply to their local council for housing benefit rather than for a bail address or asylum support provided by the Home Office. R (AT (Guinea))) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2019] EWHC 2709 (Admin) is about the...
The High Court has decided that rule 35(2) of the Detention Centre Rules is not unlawful, despite acknowledging the overwhelming evidence that it has failed to protect the welfare of detainees who are at risk of suicide. In R (IS (Bangladesh)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2019]...
People in immigration detention can make an application for Secretary of State bail directly to the Home Office. The Home Office has the same powers as the immigration tribunal to grant bail and manage its conditions. Is it worth applying? An application to the Secretary of State for immigration bail...
The Home Office cannot detain an EU citizen pending deportation without first considering whether detention is “proportionate and necessary” under EU law, the Court of Appeal has said in R (Lauzikas) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2019] EWCA Civ 1168. Any decision to detain cannot be based...
Tribunal bosses have put their foot down on fast track asylum appeals, refusing the government’s push for an accelerated process for appellants in immigration detention. The Tribunal Procedure Committee said that it would not be re-introducing a system like the Detained Fast Track that the courts found to be unlawful...
This article is about the High Court and Court of Appeal decisions in the leading (and so far only) case on segregation in immigration detention. They are R (Muasa) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2017] EWHC 2267 (Admin) and R (TM (Kenya)) v Secretary of State for...
The European Court of Human Rights has developed Article 5 ECHR beyond domestic law and potentially created a dramatic increase in the amount of damages payable for unlawful detention caused by a breach of detention policy. VM v United Kingdom (No. 2) (application no. 62824/16) is only a decision of...
