Migrants convicted of sexual offences will be unable to claim asylum in the UK under a change in the law.
Under the Refugee Convention, countries can refuse asylum to some people such as war criminals or terrorists. Those who have committed a “particularly serious crime” – defined in the UK as a criminal handed a jail sentence of one year or more – are also excluded from refugee protections.
Ministers are seeking to update this so that anyone convicted of a crime in the UK which places them on the sex offenders register, regardless of the length of their sentence, will be denied refugee status. Overseas sex offence convictions will also be taken into account although this is dependent on the country the crime was committed in.
It comes after Abdul Ezedi, a convicted sex offender, was granted asylum in the UK and later went on to attack a woman and two children with an alkali on a street in south London last year. The Home Office’s new measure, which will be introduced in an amendment to the Government’s Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill currently going through Parliament, would have made it easier to deport Ezedi due to his convictions.
The amendment will also set a 24-week target for tribunals to decide on appeals of those living in asylum seeker supported accommodation, or who are foreign national offenders. It is hoped that the target for first-tier immigration tribunals will help to cut the asylum backlog and reduce the number of people living in hotels while awaiting for a decision.
Artificial intelligence will be used to support case workers processing asylum claims, which could save staff up to an hour per case.
The Home Office has also announced plans to crack down on bogus immigration lawyers within the legislation. Individuals who are not properly registered could now face fines of up to £15,000 by the Immigration Advice Authority.
BLUESKY: Follow our Mirror Politics account on Bluesky here. And follow our Mirror Politics team here – Lizzy Buchan, Mikey Smith, Kevin Maguire, Sophie Huskisson, Dave Burke and Ashley Cowburn.
POLITICS WHATSAPP: Be first to get the biggest bombshells and breaking news by joining our Politics WhatsApp group here. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you want to leave our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
NEWSLETTER: Or sign up here to the Mirror’s Politics newsletter for all the best exclusives and opinions straight to your inbox.
PODCAST: And listen to our exciting new political podcast The Division Bell, hosted by the Mirror and the Express every Thursday.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Sex offenders who pose a risk to the community should not be allowed to benefit from refugee protections in the UK. We are strengthening the law to ensure these appalling crimes are taken seriously.
“Nor should asylum seekers be stuck in hotels at the taxpayers’ expense during lengthy legal battles. That is why we are changing the law to help clear the backlog, end the use of asylum hotels and save billions of pounds for the taxpayer.”
Safeguarding minister Jess Phillips said: “We are determined to achieve our mission of halving violence against women and girls in a decade. That’s exactly why we are taking action to ensure there are robust safeguards across the system, including by clamping down on foreign criminals who commit heinous crimes like sex offences. It is right we ensure that convicted, registered sex offenders are not entitled to refugee status.”
At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share my Data” button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.
