Home Office asylum decisions are being overturned by more than half of applicants, as Sky News reveals a convicted sex offender was awarded refugee status after a judge ruled he would be at risk of “mob violence” in Afghanistan.
The man, who was convicted of “outraging public decency and exposure” in 2017, was placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register but was given permission to remain in the country.
The evidence of several doctors at his asylum appeal hearings stated that he “continues to act inappropriately towards females”.
In June 2020, an immigration tribunal judge agreed with lawyers that his “risky behaviours” would expose him to “ill-treatment” in Afghanistan and awarded him refugee status.
Immigration tribunal courts, where judges can overturn the Home Office, have ruled in favour of asylumseekers 51% of the time since 2021.
Image: Sky News reveals that in June 2020 a convicted sex offender was awarded refugee status
And the majority of those who are unsuccessful do not return home, staying in Britain illegally.
On average, more than £34m of legal aid per year has been spent on asylum cases since 2017, according to figures from the Ministry of Justice.
Home Office minister Laura Farris told Sky News the government wanted to “end this merry-go-round” of illegal arrivals to the UK, and said it was “absolutely right that the public expects that foreign national offenders will be deported when their sentence is concluded”.
Advertisement
Meanwhile, Labour’s shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, blasted the “chaos in the asylum system” and “complete lack of enforcement” when someone has committed a serious offence.
She told Sky News it was right the UK gives “sanctuary to those who have fled persecution and conflict”, but added that “standards need to be maintained” so those without the right to stay are removed.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
1:52
Asylum seeker Sakhile: Five asylum claims rejected
Follow Sky News on WhatsApp
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Sakhile, 47, claimed asylum in Britain 18 years ago after arriving from Zimbabwe, where she says her political views put her at risk of persecution. Over the years, she has filed four further claims which have all been unsuccessful.
At no point has she ever been threatened with removal. “They just send letters and ask you if you want to go voluntarily,” she says.
Analysis of Home Office data by the Migration Observatory shows almost two-thirds, or 55,273 people, who were refused asylum were not recorded as having left the UK in the decade from 2011.
That figure – which represents 61% of all failed asylum seekers – could be even higher as it does not include partners or children.
Religious conversion is just one reason an appeal can succeed.
Sky News has examined court papers that identify “Westernisation” as an argument made by people whose length of stay in the UK while awaiting a decision means they would face persecution in their home countries.
Image: “Westernisation” is another reason aslyum appeals can be successful
One Iraqi Kurdish family said their daughter was used to living “as a Western woman”.
The judge said: “If this family were transplanted from Liverpool to Baghdad, and carried on living in the way they live here, they would quickly encounter problems.”
In an interview with Sky News earlier this month, science minister Andrew Griffith MP said: “We can’t run an asylum system based on credulous clerics and lefty lawyers.”
But allegations of activism within the courts are dismissed by those who regularly appear against the government.
“The asylum system is broken,” says Ahmed Aydeed, director of public law at Duncan Lewis, who regularly represents asylum seekers. “Lawyers only work within the system created… I think the public would be greatly angered by the way this whole system works.”
Image: Ahmed Aydeed, director of public law at Duncan Lewis
A Home Office spokesperson told Sky News: “We stand firm on our longstanding policy that those without a right to stay in the UK will be removed.
“Our Illegal Migration Act makes this possible, as people who enter the UK illegally will have their asylum claims and human rights claims declared inadmissible, and they will not be able to make a life here.
“Each asylum application is individually assessed, including decisions on removal of individuals.
“Where people have previously been refused asylum in the UK, a fresh asylum claim can be made through legal representation.”
You can watch Becky Johnson’s full report, Faultlines: Asylum Crisis, on Sky News today at 10:30, 12:30, 14;30, 18:30 and 20:00.
Former Conservative chairman and friend of Boris Johnson – Sir Jake Berry – is defecting to Reform UK, causing more problems for Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.
On today’s episode, Sky News’ Sam Coates and Politico’s Anne McElvoy discuss if his defection will divide parts of Reform policy.
Elsewhere, the Anglo-French summit gets under way, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer hoping to announce a migration deal with French President Emmanuel Macron to deter small boat crossings.
Plus, chatter around Whitehall that No10 are considering a pre-summer reshuffle, but will it have any value?
The trial is part of Project Acacia, an initiative from the RBA exploring how digital money and tokenization could support financial markets in Australia.
Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron have agreed the need for a “new deterrent” to deter small boats crossings in the Channel, Downing Street has said.
The prime minister met Mr Macron this afternoon as part of the French president’s state visit to the UK, which began on Tuesday.
High up the agenda for the two leaders is the need to tackle small boat crossings in the Channel, which Mr Macron said yesterday was a “burden” for both the UK and France.
The small boats crisis is a pressing issue for the prime minister, given that more than 20,000 migrants crossed the English Channel to the UK in the first six months of this year – a rise of almost 50% on the number crossing in 2024.
Sir Keir is hoping he can reach a deal for a one-in one-out return treaty with France, ahead of the UK-France summit on Thursday, which will involve ministerial teams from both nations.
The deal would see those crossing the Channel illegally sent back to France in exchange for Britain taking in any asylum seeker with a family connection in the UK.
More on Emmanuel Macron
Related Topics:
However, it is understood the deal is still in the balance, with some EU countries unhappy about France and the UK agreeing on a bilateral deal.
French newspaper Le Monde reports that up to 50 small boat migrants could be sent back to France each week, starting from August, as part of an agreement between Sir Keir and Mr Macron.
A statement from Downing Street said: “The prime minister met the French President Emmanuel Macron in Downing Street this afternoon.
“They reflected on the state visit of the president so far, agreeing that it had been an important representation of the deep ties between our two countries.
“Moving on to discuss joint working, they shared their desire to deepen our partnership further – from joint leadership in support of Ukraine to strengthening our defence collaboration and increasing bilateral trade and investment.”
It added: “The leaders agreed tackling the threat of irregular migration and small boat crossings is a shared priority that requires shared solutions.
“The prime minister spoke of his government’s toughening of the system in the past year to ensure rules are respected and enforced, including a massive surge in illegal working arrests to end the false promise of jobs that are used to sell spaces on boats.
“The two leaders agreed on the need to go further and make progress on new and innovative solutions, including a new deterrent to break the business model of these gangs.”
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, seized on the statement to criticise Labour for scrapping the Conservatives’ Rwanda plan, which the Tories claim would have sent asylum seekers “entering the UK illegally” to Rwanda.
He said in an online post: “We had a deterrent ready to go, where every single illegal immigrant arriving over the Channel would be sent to Rwanda.
“But Starmer cancelled this before it had a chance to start.
“Now, a year later, he’s realised he made a massive mistake. That’s why numbers have surged and this year so far has been the worst in history for illegal channel crossings.
“Starmer is weak and incompetent and he’s lost control of our borders.”