If a European national receives a criminal conviction arising from conduct which took place before the Brexit cut-off date, how can they rely on those previous EU rules in an appeal against deportation? The question is important because of the very large difference in the protections afforded by the previous...
This was the central question which arose in the context of an unlawful detention claim, initially dismissed by the High Court in Johnson v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWHC 3120 (KB) and then again in the recently reported appeal in Johnson v Secretary of State for...
You know it’s bad when there are so many mistakes in your determination that the appellate court judge decides he is only going to write “[sic]” next to the really big ones. And even worse when this shade was thrown by LJ Underhill, Vice-President of the Court of Appeal, who...
Deportation proceedings pit the rights of the individual against those of the state, appointed guardian of the public interest. And as very clearly stated in primary legislation, the deportation of foreign criminals is in the public interest. The law in this area is rent through with politics, shifting relentlessly with...
Boris Becker, three-time Wimbledon champion and many people’s favourite German, has been sentenced to two and a half years’ imprisonment for offences under the Insolvency Act 1986. Assuming Becker hasn’t acquired British citizenship, will he be deported following the conclusion of his custodial sentence? Automatic deportation The UK Borders Act...
In MI (Pakistan) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWCA Civ 1711, the Court of Appeal continues to unpick pre-HA (Iraq) deportation jurisprudence, here reversing the Upper Tribunal decision of Imran (Section 117C(5); children, unduly harsh : Pakistan) [2020] UKUT 83 (IAC). Our unimpressed write-up of the...
In SM (Zimbabwe) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWCA Civ 1566, the Court of Appeal has reiterated the correct approach to deportation appeals involving the potential separation of children from their parents. This unusual appeal involved a 52-year-old man, SM, who had been convicted of child cruelty...
There are only two things that legal aid lawyers can do to mitigate the losses they inevitably face by undertaking publicly funded advice work: reduce the time they put into each fixed fee case, or reduce the number of legally aided cases they take on. This is the stark finding...
In Jallow v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWCA Civ 788 the Court of Appeal looked at the weight that should be given to the rehabilitation of a foreign national offender in their appeal against deportation. Not a great deal, concluded Lord Justice Lewis, giving the unanimous...
