European citizens applying for settlement status are being detained and threatened with deportation. This development contradicts the guarantees of the ministers and appears to violate the Brexit agreement.
This work from home Provide deportation instructions for EU nationals, even if they can prove that they have applied for permanent status, this should protect their right to stay in the UK.
Ministers have repeatedly promised that anyone who applies to the government Deadline June 30 During the trial of their case, their existing rights will be protected.
Obvious failure to implement the agreement has prompted Interior Ministry officials to accuse “administrative incompetence” or “deliberately” trying to deport as many EU nationals as possible, assuming they are more likely to be deported than asylum seekers.
A letter from a legal charity Immigration detainees released on bail (tender) The head of immigration law enforcement expressed concern on July 29 that the Ministry of the Interior failed to confirm receipt of the application for settlement status when it wanted to deport EU citizens.
Bid said that unless it receives a meaningful response from the Ministry of the Interior before this weekend, it will file a formal complaint with the European Commission.
Lawyers believe that this marks an important battle to protect the rights of EU citizens. BrexitThey warned that failure to confirm the application could affect thousands of people.
On Friday, an EU citizen who wanted to deport and was detained at an immigration deportation center by the Ministry of the Interior was released on bail after the judge admitted that they could not be deported because they had already filed an EUSS application.
Even so, the Ministry of the Interior still disputed their release, and did not apologize or explain why it earlier argued that there was no evidence of the application at the previous hearings, so they could be deported.
Soon after his release, the EU national, who requested anonymity, told the EU Observer: “They tried to make fun of me and my family’s lives. This is unfair. I should have a right.”
Pierre Makhlouf, Bid’s legal director, said: “The Ministry of the Interior seems to have predetermined the fate of certain EU nationals and may think that they are easily deported. But in the process of deporting more people, It evades legal requirements and procedures.
“Whether this is due to administrative negligence or deliberate negligence may not be clear, but the UK ignores the legal measures taken by EU nationals to protect their rights and violates its obligations under the withdrawal agreement.”
The problem seems to be mainly related to applications sent by mail rather than digital forwarding. Araniya Kogulathas, barrister and legal manager of Bid’s EEA (European Economic Area) project, said that many disadvantaged and marginalized people use paper applications, including the elderly and people in detention or prison, who find it difficult to access computers or do not have Obtain a valid ID.
The number affected may be large. For example, of the 1,500 inmates at Wandsworth Prison in South London, nearly 500 are believed to be EU nationals.
Kogulathas said: “Despite the EUSS application, nationals of the European Economic Area are still deprived of their liberty and even received deportation instructions. Although they have limited access to legal advice and representation, they are all forced to challenge.
She added: “These challenges are particularly difficult for people detained by immigration authority in prisons, some of whom are kept in cells for approximately 23 hours or more a day due to the pandemic.”
Aware of these difficulties, the ministers promised to allow those who did not apply indefinitely to apply if they have a reasonable reason.
In the case known to Bid, the Ministry of the Interior failed to acknowledge the EUSS application submitted in mid-July, stating that “there is no obstacle to his repatriation and repatriation instructions will be formulated soon”. Another case involved an EU citizen who received a removal instruction from the Ministry of the Interior even though he submitted an EUSS application online.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of the Interior rejected the “completely baseless” claim, even though the Ministry of the Interior challenged some of the cases in the article in the immigration court-the most recent one occurred on Friday-claiming ” Observer Failed to provide any evidence that detention or deportation instructions are being provided to persons with EUSS settlement program status”.
They added: “Our approach means that if immigration enforcement encounters anyone who does not have EUSS but may be eligible, we will work with them to enable them to apply and instruct them to obtain available support. If anyone is on June 30 If they applied for the EU settlement program before the deadline of the day, but have not yet made a decision, their rights will be protected until their application is decided.”
