London: Campaigners warn that people being deported from the UK are struggling to access justice as figures show the number of legal challenges has plummeted in recent years. New data obtained via freedom of information laws (FOI) reveals that the rate at which deportation orders are being appealed dropped from nearly one in three (30 per cent) in 2019 to nearly one in eight (12 per cent) last year. Lawyers said “declining access to legal advice” for deportees – caused in part by the pandemic and in part by cuts to legal aid – has made it “almost impossible” to successfully challenge deportation.
The figures have raised questions over controversial government plans to reduce people’s rights to challenge removal from Britain in order to ensure foreign nationals are not “incrementally and systematically frustrated by new and expanding human rights claims”. Justice secretary Dominic Raab announced last month that removing this appeal right under his new Bill of Rights would prevent the system from being “abused” by “dangerous criminals”.
Read more: May Bulman, Independent, https://rb.gy/
