Charter flight deportations: ‘ghost flights’ that stop access to justice

March 29, 2017

Legal Updates

Last night, activists blockaded Stansted Airport to stop the departure of the scheduled charter flight mass deportation to Nigeria and Ghana. At the time of writing, the blockade continues and the charter flight has not departed. Why have activists taken such a drastic action?

Charter flight removals/deportations are one of the shadiest aspects of the UK’s asylum and immigration process.

Shielded from public oversight, information protected from freedom of information requests, every month these ‘ghost flights’ forcibly remove people en masse from the UK.

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Signing support: lessons from Manchester

November 28, 2016

Legal Updates

Yesterday on the blog, we wrote about the importance of preparing in case of being detained, and the different things you can think about and get ready in case the worst happens to you. One of the most important aspects of this is having a system in place so that if you are detained, people know straight away and start taking action for you.

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Judicial reviews and preventing forced removal

November 8, 2016

Legal Updates

The Home Office published new enforcement instructions and guidance on 31 October 2016 on, among other things, judicial reviews and injunctions.

The new guidance limits even further the situations in which judicial review proceedings will lead to the Home Office suspending a forced removal or deportation.

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New country guidance case on risk on return to Sudan

June 27, 2016

Legal Updates

Country guidance cases are asylum appeals chosen by the immigration tribunal to give legal guidance for a particular country, or a particular group of people in a particular country. The decisions in these cases are assumed to be based on the best possible evidence about that country at that time. Until there are significant changes in that country, a country guidance decision sets out the law for other asylum-seekers from that country.

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Home Office unlawfully imposed curfews: does this affect someone you know?

May 25, 2016

Legal Updates

There was a very important judgment from the Court of Appeal last week.

The judgment was in the case of Mr Gedi, who was represented by Tom Hickman of Blackstone Chambers instructed by Ravi Naik of ITN solicitors. 

The Court of Appeal found that the UK government has no power to impose a curfew either under powers for electronic monitoring or under general powers for conditions under the Immigration Act 1971.

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