Alistair Carmichael has written an article for the Times Red Box website in which he slams Theresa May’s record on immigration detention:
May’s legacy on immigration detention is callous and cold
writes @acarmichaelmp https://t.co/x3WCyO4ck9 pic.twitter.com/AvnWHPpoMR— Red Box (@timesredbox) July 28, 2016
32,000 people is half the population of my home town.
He explains why immigration detention is so bad:
These people are not criminals and there is no judge or jury. Refugees, asylum seekers and migrants can be held in immigration detention centres for days, weeks or months while they await a decision. We are the only country in Europe not to have a limit on detention. The way that governments treat the most vulnerable in society tells you a lot about them and in the case of Britain, it paints the very worst picture. You may expect this from Russia or China but it is happening right here at home.
The effect on those people, given what many of them have been through to get here, is chilling:
After traumatic journeys to the UK – having fled horrors that we could not even bring ourselves to think about – they find themselves locked up with no idea of when they will get their freedom back.
He concludes that there is much to worry about:
The warning signs are there for a colder, meaner Britain from the woman who knows that many people consider the Tories to be the “nasty party”. We must be vigilant.
I am far from impressed with the Lib Dem record on immigration issues while in coalition. Sure, we ended child detention and got rid of Go Home vans that should never have seem the light of day in the first place, but I find the income threshold for spouses to be completely unfair and particularly discriminatory against women who want their husbands to live here. It’s one of the worst things we did in coalition.
The Home Office was very much Theresa May’s empire during the coalition years. More than anyone else, she bears responsibility for what happened there. I just wish that we had dug our heels in a bit more and said “no.”
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social
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5 Comments
There are completely valid reasons for immigration detention. Unfortunately, the Home Office Border Farce do not always have these. I have several times had to intervene to get people out of detention who have ended up there for the most ludicrous of reasons, including people who have a total right to be in the UK.
John Reid said, famously, when he took it over as Home Secretary that the UK’s Immigration service was ‘not fit for purpose’. It remained so under Reid and has not really advanced that much since.
Red Box (£).
People convicted of immigration offences go to prison, often for 12 months. If served with a deportation order they may be detained for removal. They can also appeal to an Immigration Judge against detention. Delays in removal are caused in some cases by difficulties with home countries providing travel documents.
@Tony Dawson. It’s so easy to slam the Home Office and Border Force Officers isn’t it, particularly when as civil servants they don’t have a right to defend themselves. Within the rules and guidelines set by politicians Border Force Officers play an essential role in protecting the citizens of this country whether it is removing criminals or preventing them from entering, fighting terrorism and drug smuggling and people smuggling. Most are compassionate mums, dads, grandparents, just regular people doing a difficult and at times very dangerous job, unarmed. Like any organisation they sometimes make mistakes but on balance and given the extent of the borders and volume of travellers and goods they do a fantastic job for this country.
To Alistair I would say this… when someone arrives undocumented and with a story to tell sometimes they don’t tell the truth about who they are and why they are here. Border Force Officers have to make a judgement – if they allow a rapist or murderer on the run and using a false identity to go free we are all endangered. Immigration detention is like remand but there’s a big difference: it is for the asylum seeker or refugee to prove they are are who they say they are and that their story is truthful. There’s the risk that if you let someone go free without being certain of their integrity they will disappear. But also the message is important when it comes to those who are smuggled in. It is not fair on those who migrate following the rules and paying the fees if others can completely bypass those rules with no repercussions. Or on those who follow the rules and claim asylum in the first safe country. An increase in detention indicates an increase in attempts to enter or stay in the UK illegally coupled with improvements in detection techniques. It doesn’t mean a colder meaner UK. I really really did not rate May as Home Secretary but Alistair Carmichael in that job would be a disaster given his poor grasp of the realities of protecting our borders.
The problem is that the legal way is inadequate because it is not properly financed, staffed or situated where it is accessible. There seems an almost deliberate inadequacy
in Calais for children who are legally entitled to come to Britain because they have documented family there. In fact it looks very deliberate.
@ Caron ” I just wish that we had dug our heels in a bit more and said “no.”
And….. and across the whole policy front – not just at the Home Office. Nick Clegg missed out on so many red lines on policy….. and on appointments too (he should have hung in for Vince to have been Chancellor.