Much 'Ado' about deportation of Foreign Nationals
John O of NCADC
For the last 24 hours there has been a media frenzy about 1,000 foreign
national who had committed crimes, served time in prison but were not deported
from the UK on completion of their sentences.
NCADC have always opposed the deportation of foreign nationals who because of
the crime they have committed have been ordered to leave the UK because the
Secretary of State deems their presence in the UK is not conducive to the
public good.
Breaking the law is not acceptable but the law must be fair and seen to be
fair in how it punishes someone who breaks the law. Sentencing must be
consistent and not discriminatory. To sentence a UK citizen to 10 years for a
crime and when the person has served the sentence is released back into the
community with appropriate safeguards is correct, however to sentence a
foreign national to 10 years for the same crime and when the person has served
the sentence deport them from the UK is discriminatory and unjust.
Double Punishment
It is a fundamental principle of UK law that a person cannot be punished twice
for the same offence. However this does not apply to foreign nationals living
in the UK, irrespective of how long they have been living in the UK or that
they have established ties with their families and communities. If they commit
a crime and are sentenced to imprisonment they can also face a secondary
punishment of deportation.
Deportation can take place in two ways. Firstly, it can be recommended by a
court following conviction for an offence punishable with imprisonment.
Secondly, even where the court makes no recommendation, the Home Office can
subsequently intervene and serve a deportation notice on the grounds that the
prisoner's presence in the UK is not "conducive to the public good".
Deportation following conviction can be irrespective of how long a person has
lived in the UK, irrespective of their family ties in this country. In many
cases the Home Office will argue that to keep the families together, partners
and children of convicted foreign nationals can uproot themselves and go and
live abroad often in countries they may have never been to, this amounts to
constructive deportation.
However the courts in these cases can often disagree with the Home Secretary
when he tries to deport someone with family ties in the UK. Article 8 of the
European Convention on Human Rights provides that everyone has the right to
respect for his private and family life. At times it would not be feasible,
realistic, practicable, reasonable or sensible for the whole family to uproot
and leave the UK because of the conviction of the head of the family. In one
particular case where the Home Secretary's intention to deport was rejected
the adjudicator said: "... deportation at the end of a ten year sentence may
indeed come close to a double punishment - and one that would appear to be,
largely, reserved for persons from the ethnic minorities."
NCADC call for an end to the practice of Double punishment of foreign
nationals as it is discriminatory and unjust.
https://www.ncadc.org.uk/
April 2006
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