Welcome to the weekly Free Motion e-newsletter!
Final week, within the newest demonstration of confidence in its means to forcibly ship folks to Rwanda, the federal government rolled out a new version of the voluntary returns steerage that gives for folks to be returned to a 3rd nation (i.e. Rwanda) and never simply their nation of origin. The adjustments to new model 5 of the steerage had been described as “updated to amend references to ‘voluntary returns’ to ‘voluntary departures’ in line with the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002” and “minor drafting changes have been made for clarification”.
Why they bothered making an attempt to hide the small print of the adjustments is past me, because the House Workplace then began phoning folks the identical day the steerage was printed (final Monday) to try to convince them to take £3,000 to go to Rwanda with out anybody having a clue what was occurring.
Issues then received very bizarre, as Migrant Help claimed that “a number of fraudulent calls” had been made to folks from withheld numbers, the place the caller had claimed to be from Migrant Help and was providing the particular person a voluntary return to Rwanda in alternate for £3,000.
Now, I’m not well-versed within the methods of the scammer, however what precisely would a fraudster achieve from doing this? These are individuals who do not need financial institution accounts or any disposable earnings. Is the aim simply to trigger distress? The House Workplace is already doing this so why would the scammers really feel the necessity to take action? The place did these supposed scammers get the cellphone numbers of those folks from? The entire thing is simply totally weird. The probability of it being some type of inside error appears way more doubtless, however who is aware of if we’ll ever discover out.
We did get a memorable quote from a House Workplace spokesperson nevertheless, condemning the calls as “cruel”. Not like what the House Workplace is doing, which is the very same factor however with the precise prospect of a flight to Rwanda on the different finish.
We could have a Security of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024 by the top of this week, because the Instances has reported that authorities whips have requested all Tory friends to show up for the subsequent vote within the Home of Lords on Wednesday (it’s again within the Commons right now [Ed: yesterday, newsletter goes out by email on Monday]). In any other case it appears the Invoice may be delayed till after Easter.
It appears from an article within the Telegraph that mentioned delays in any flight taking off as a consequence of authorized challenges, that when the Invoice receives Royal Assent the federal government could usher in pressure not less than the authorized proceedings sections of the Unlawful Migration Act. These are the provisions from part 38 onwards that set out the timescales and different necessities to be met for authorized challenges.
My confidence within the roll out of e-Visas this yr stays as little as ever, after studying of the existence of “merged identities” caused by Home Office databases, creating an enormous amount of difficulty for these affected. A very good time to revisit Kuba’s article on systemic problems with digital proof of immigration status from final yr.
On Free Motion, we did a fast write up of Thursday’s statement of changes, the newest case the place the House Workplace (and Authorities Authorized Division) had been put on the naughty step, this actually fascinating citizenship case within the Courtroom of Attraction (not Roehrig – we’re publishing that tomorrow) and a few concerning changes to who’s deemed appropriate for the quasi-detention asylum lodging websites.
We additionally printed this well timed and vital article by MiCLU (Migrant and Refugee Kids’s Authorized Unit at Islington Legislation Centre) on how to effectively represent Albanian clients within the present authorized framework.
Learn on for the remainder of the week on Free Motion and elsewhere.
Cheers, Sonia
What we’re studying
Majority of Tory voters want Rwanda bill scrapped or watered down – iNews, 17 March
Madeline Gleeson & Theodore Konstadinides: The UK’s Rwanda policy and Lessons from Australia – UK Constitutional Legislation Affiliation, 14 March
Care firm has overseas worker licence revoked by Home Office – BBC Information, 13 March
Migrant care workers: how to stand up to exploitation: An FAQ guide from the Work Rights Centre – The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, 15 March
Decision not to charge NI boat owners over alleged human trafficking of fishermen quashed – Belfast Telegraph, 14 March
EXCLUSIVE: Two ex-Tory donors to profit from £6.4million Home Office contract for Rwanda plan – The Mirror, 15 March
Home Office ‘just accepted’ £71m faulty IT system with awful data for years – iNews, 13 March
Date set for RAF Scampton High Court appeal against Home Office asylum seeker plans – Lincolnshire Stay, 15 March
Nigerian woman speaks of slavery and rape in UK – BBC Information, 14 March
Ibrahima Bah was sentenced to nine years for steering a ‘death trap’ dinghy across the Channel. Was he really to blame? – The Guardian, 12 March
Revealed: the secret algorithm that controls the lives of Serco’s immigration detainees – The Guardian, 12 March
Rotten food given to asylum seekers charity finds – BBC Information, 12 March
Hotel Chain Voted UK’s Worst Makes Tens of Millions a Year from Housing Asylum Seekers in Harmful Conditions – Byline Instances, 15 March
