• September 16, 2019

Home Office Policy that gives migrants just 72 hours notice of deportation deemed lawful

LONDON Sept 16: A HOME Office policy which gives migrants as little as 72 hours’ notice of deportation is lawful, the High Court has ruled.
Campaign group Medical Justice challenged the removal notice window policy, claiming it is impossible for people who do not already have a lawyer to obtain one.

Mr Justice Freedman said that the Home Office had “curtailed or removed the right of access to court to challenge (its) decisions”.

He said: “It is not a question of denying access to justice because of the need to be able to devise and operate an effective and lawful system of immigration.

“It is a question of understanding what access to justice means. It does not mean that the courts can be accessed at any time and without any restriction.”

He ruled that the Home Office had included “a whole series of safeguards” in the policy.

The judge added: “The logical implication of the approach contended for by the claimant would be that individuals should be entitled to provoke and then to challenge decisions indefinitely.

“Thus undermining the ability of the (Home Office) to operate a reasonable and effective removal policy.”

But Medical Justice was given permission to appeal alongside a similar challenge to the policy, which is due to be heard in mid-October.

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