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| More than 100 asylum seekers to walk free after detention system quashed | More than 100 asylum seekers to walk free after detention system quashed |
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| More than 100 asylum seekers locked up in immigration detention centres are expected to be released as a result of the immediate suspension of the Home Office’s fast-track detention system, ministers have announced. | More than 100 asylum seekers locked up in immigration detention centres are expected to be released as a result of the immediate suspension of the Home Office’s fast-track detention system, ministers have announced. |
| They are among more than 800 asylum seekers, detained in Yarl’s Wood and other such centres, whose cases will be urgently reviewed after the immigration minister, James Brokenshire, ordered the temporary suspension of the system. | They are among more than 800 asylum seekers, detained in Yarl’s Wood and other such centres, whose cases will be urgently reviewed after the immigration minister, James Brokenshire, ordered the temporary suspension of the system. |
| His announcement came in the face of legal challenges over the lack of sufficient safeguards to prevent victims of torture and trafficking being caught up in the system. The appeals part of the system was ruled unlawful last Friday by the court of appeal, which declared its limit of seven working days as “structurally unfair”. | His announcement came in the face of legal challenges over the lack of sufficient safeguards to prevent victims of torture and trafficking being caught up in the system. The appeals part of the system was ruled unlawful last Friday by the court of appeal, which declared its limit of seven working days as “structurally unfair”. |
| “In the light of these issues, I have decided to temporarily suspend the operation of the detained fast-track policy,” said Brokenshire. “I hope this pause to be short in duration, perhaps only a matter of weeks, but I will only resume operation of this policy when I am sure the right structures are in place to minimise any risk of unfairness.” | “In the light of these issues, I have decided to temporarily suspend the operation of the detained fast-track policy,” said Brokenshire. “I hope this pause to be short in duration, perhaps only a matter of weeks, but I will only resume operation of this policy when I am sure the right structures are in place to minimise any risk of unfairness.” |
| The detained fast track belongs on the scrapheap of UK human rights history | The detained fast track belongs on the scrapheap of UK human rights history |
| Campaigners, including the Detention Action charity that brought the successful legal challenges, said they hoped this would mark the end to Britain’s routine detention of asylum seekers. | Campaigners, including the Detention Action charity that brought the successful legal challenges, said they hoped this would mark the end to Britain’s routine detention of asylum seekers. |
| Most of the asylum seekers held under the fast-track system are expected to be re-detained without leaving the removal centre as they are already held because they are at risk of absconding or face imminent removal. But it is expected that more than 100 will be released from detention centres including Yarl’s Wood, Harmondsworth and Colnbrook. | Most of the asylum seekers held under the fast-track system are expected to be re-detained without leaving the removal centre as they are already held because they are at risk of absconding or face imminent removal. But it is expected that more than 100 will be released from detention centres including Yarl’s Wood, Harmondsworth and Colnbrook. |
| The asylum seekers likely to be released are expected to be those who have only recently entered the system. Foreign offenders being deported, others being sent back to a safe third country, or those facing a high chance of removal are highly unlikely to be released. | The asylum seekers likely to be released are expected to be those who have only recently entered the system. Foreign offenders being deported, others being sent back to a safe third country, or those facing a high chance of removal are highly unlikely to be released. |
| Ministers will urgently put in place stronger safeguards to ensure that vulnerable people such as torture victims are screened out from the fast-track process. | Ministers will urgently put in place stronger safeguards to ensure that vulnerable people such as torture victims are screened out from the fast-track process. |
| Brokenshire said the government was committed to its underlying principles “and believes for the most part that it is operating well and is removing back to their own countries those whose asylum claims are clearly unfounded. But we must be satisfied that our safeguards for dealing with vulnerable applicants throughout the system are working well enough to minimise any risk of unfairness.” | Brokenshire said the government was committed to its underlying principles “and believes for the most part that it is operating well and is removing back to their own countries those whose asylum claims are clearly unfounded. But we must be satisfied that our safeguards for dealing with vulnerable applicants throughout the system are working well enough to minimise any risk of unfairness.” |
| The fast-track system has been used by the Home Office since 2000 and thousands of people have been removed from the country in the last 15 years. The suspension is a major victory for campaign groups and charities which have argued that the fast-track system risked unfairly detaining victims of torture and trafficking. | The fast-track system has been used by the Home Office since 2000 and thousands of people have been removed from the country in the last 15 years. The suspension is a major victory for campaign groups and charities which have argued that the fast-track system risked unfairly detaining victims of torture and trafficking. |
| Jerome Phelps, the director of Detention Action, said: “We welcome this announcement. We hope that today will mark the end of the UK’s routine detention of asylum seekers. It is a further step away from the systematic overuse of detention that was rightly criticised by a cross-party parliamentary inquiry this year. | Jerome Phelps, the director of Detention Action, said: “We welcome this announcement. We hope that today will mark the end of the UK’s routine detention of asylum seekers. It is a further step away from the systematic overuse of detention that was rightly criticised by a cross-party parliamentary inquiry this year. |
| “We hope that the Home Office will accept the judgments of the courts and work with civil society to build an asylum system that is both fast and fair, with alternatives to detention that are both cheaper and more just.” | “We hope that the Home Office will accept the judgments of the courts and work with civil society to build an asylum system that is both fast and fair, with alternatives to detention that are both cheaper and more just.” |
| Bamidele, a member of the Freed Voices group whose asylum claim was rejected under the fast-track policy, said: “The detained fast track is nothing short of a kangaroo court. I received no fair trial. The result was fixed from the moment I walked in the room. | Bamidele, a member of the Freed Voices group whose asylum claim was rejected under the fast-track policy, said: “The detained fast track is nothing short of a kangaroo court. I received no fair trial. The result was fixed from the moment I walked in the room. |
| “The stress left my health in tatters – so much so that they eventually had to release me. Four years later, with time to properly make my case, I was given leave to remain. The detained fast track belongs on the scrapheap of UK human rights history.” | “The stress left my health in tatters – so much so that they eventually had to release me. Four years later, with time to properly make my case, I was given leave to remain. The detained fast track belongs on the scrapheap of UK human rights history.” |
| Sile Reynolds, Freedom from Torture’s lead asylum policy adviser, said: “Freedom from Torture strongly welcomes this admission by the Home Office that the detained fast track is not working. The immigration minister has now committed to review the system, but we question whether review can tackle fundamental flaws which are in the very nature of the system.“Although survivors of torture are not supposed to be processed through this system, our medico-legal report service, which documents torture forensically, received 240 referrals for potential torture survivors in the detained fast track last year.” | Sile Reynolds, Freedom from Torture’s lead asylum policy adviser, said: “Freedom from Torture strongly welcomes this admission by the Home Office that the detained fast track is not working. The immigration minister has now committed to review the system, but we question whether review can tackle fundamental flaws which are in the very nature of the system.“Although survivors of torture are not supposed to be processed through this system, our medico-legal report service, which documents torture forensically, received 240 referrals for potential torture survivors in the detained fast track last year.” |
| The detained fast-track system lets the Home Office detain asylum seekers whose claim for refugee status it believes can be decided within weeks. They are kept in detention while the accelerated process is going on. | The detained fast-track system lets the Home Office detain asylum seekers whose claim for refugee status it believes can be decided within weeks. They are kept in detention while the accelerated process is going on. |
| But the courts have found that asylum seekers were seriously disadvantaged by the lack of time to prepare appeals from detention, while the safeguards were inadequate to prevent vulnerable people, such as torture and trafficking victims, from being wrongly fast-tracked. | But the courts have found that asylum seekers were seriously disadvantaged by the lack of time to prepare appeals from detention, while the safeguards were inadequate to prevent vulnerable people, such as torture and trafficking victims, from being wrongly fast-tracked. |
| Any asylum seeker, from any country, could be placed on the detained fast track, which is restricted to cases considered weak or without merit. Many on the fast track were from countries experiencing conflict or violence, such as Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. | Any asylum seeker, from any country, could be placed on the detained fast track, which is restricted to cases considered weak or without merit. Many on the fast track were from countries experiencing conflict or violence, such as Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. |
| On Friday, the high court said the appeals part of the system was “structurally unfair”, because lawyers for the asylum seekers were expected to take instructions, prepare statements, translate documents, make bail applications, arrange expert witnesses and make representations to be taken out of the fast track within seven working days. | On Friday, the high court said the appeals part of the system was “structurally unfair”, because lawyers for the asylum seekers were expected to take instructions, prepare statements, translate documents, make bail applications, arrange expert witnesses and make representations to be taken out of the fast track within seven working days. |
| The use of the detained fast track has rapidly expanded in recent years. The latest published figures show that 4,286 asylum seekers were locked up in Yarl’s Wood, Colnbrook or Harmondsworth under the scheme in 2013. This is a 73% increase from 2012, with almost one in five of all asylum seekers having their claims heard through a process with a 99% rejection rate. | The use of the detained fast track has rapidly expanded in recent years. The latest published figures show that 4,286 asylum seekers were locked up in Yarl’s Wood, Colnbrook or Harmondsworth under the scheme in 2013. This is a 73% increase from 2012, with almost one in five of all asylum seekers having their claims heard through a process with a 99% rejection rate. |
| ‘Yesterday was the happiest day of my life because I was set free’ | ‘Yesterday was the happiest day of my life because I was set free’ |
| When the news came through at around 10am on Thursday that the fast-track system was being suspended, “there was a big party” among the women at Yarl’s Wood, one of those released told the Guardian. | |
| Marayam, a 33-year old from Punjab who said she had fled her homeland because of persecution as a member of a religious minority, the Ahmadiyya, said African women who were slated for immediate release led the jubilation. | |
| She said more than 25 women were being released from the Bedfordshire detention centre and at least 10 of those were thought to be because of the suspension, which created a queue inside the centre as officials had to process paperwork quickly. | |
| “There were songs and dancing,” Marayam said after 13 days’ detention were bought to an abrupt end. “I am very happy. In Pakistan other people think our beliefs are wrong, we have no human rights or freedom of expression and it is very difficult to find work.” | |
| She had had her interview on Wednesday and until the news came through that the fast-track system was suspended she would have been held for at least 14 days awaiting a decision, said her brother-in-law, who was picking her up and taking her home for dinner. | |
| “We are delighted,” he said. “It is a good decision. Normally the system is not fair for people who come with problems because they are not criminals. They want to solve their problems so why do they keep them in detention? It is not fair.” | |
| A Jamaican woman in her mid-30s who was released said 10 women, mostly from China and the Indian subcontinent, had been told they were leaving on Thursday as a result of the ministerial edict. She said some of them spoke such poor English they did not grasp what was happening, but others were pleased. | |
| She said that she had been picked up in London on 24 June and detained in Yarl’s Wood and had been interviewed on Thursday, during which she told she would be immediately released pending a decision rather than detained. She welcomed the suspension but called on the courts to go further. | |
| “They need to close the detention centre down,” she said. “People are not coming to the UK for unnecessary reasons, but when you give them your situation, they don’t want to believe it. Detaining asylum seekers is wrong.” | |
| Describing the conditions in Yarl’s Wood, she said: “You don’t want to go in there. It is dusty, unclean and you are given no cleaning stuff. It’s the same food every day and a lot of processed food. We try to uplift out spirits by trying to share each others’ burden, but we get the door slammed in our face so often that morale is not good.” | |
| Among other women departing Yarl’s Wood on Thursday night were two carloads of young African women and another of Asian women, both in cars that appeared to be driven by a Serco official, the outsourcing company that runs the detention centre for the Home Office. | |
| Lucy Ndungu has been held on the detained fast track at Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre in Bedfordshire for seven months. She is a survivor of rape and torture and a victim of trafficking and fled from Kenya. She is believed to be one of between 20 and 30 detainees already released. | Lucy Ndungu has been held on the detained fast track at Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre in Bedfordshire for seven months. She is a survivor of rape and torture and a victim of trafficking and fled from Kenya. She is believed to be one of between 20 and 30 detainees already released. |
| “I could not believe it when I received a call from a Home Office official yesterday saying: ‘Lucy, I am going to set you free. Where do you want to go?” she said. | “I could not believe it when I received a call from a Home Office official yesterday saying: ‘Lucy, I am going to set you free. Where do you want to go?” she said. |
| “I asked to go to Glasgow, where I have a friend I can stay with and I travelled there through the night and arrived this morning.” | “I asked to go to Glasgow, where I have a friend I can stay with and I travelled there through the night and arrived this morning.” |
| Ndungu had campaigned alongside other female detainees in Yarl’s Wood and had organised a petition signed by about 100 female detainees calling for their immediate release after a decision by the court of appeal last Friday that detained fast track was unlawful. | Ndungu had campaigned alongside other female detainees in Yarl’s Wood and had organised a petition signed by about 100 female detainees calling for their immediate release after a decision by the court of appeal last Friday that detained fast track was unlawful. |
| “Yesterday was the happiest day of my life because I was set free,” she said. “There were three other women set free at the same time as me. I screamed with joy when I had finished speaking to the immigration officer. This is so nice, it’s a good, good feeling. But I feel so bad for the detainees on fast track who are still locked up.” | “Yesterday was the happiest day of my life because I was set free,” she said. “There were three other women set free at the same time as me. I screamed with joy when I had finished speaking to the immigration officer. This is so nice, it’s a good, good feeling. But I feel so bad for the detainees on fast track who are still locked up.” |
| Ndungu said that being locked up in Yarl’s Wood had worsened the trauma she was already dealing with as a result of her experiences back home and in the UK. | Ndungu said that being locked up in Yarl’s Wood had worsened the trauma she was already dealing with as a result of her experiences back home and in the UK. |
| “Being in detention takes it out of you mentally, physically and emotionally,” she said. “Now that I have been released I can access proper support. The Salvation Army has given me an appointment next Monday to give me some help as a victim of trafficking.” | “Being in detention takes it out of you mentally, physically and emotionally,” she said. “Now that I have been released I can access proper support. The Salvation Army has given me an appointment next Monday to give me some help as a victim of trafficking.” |
| Robert Booth and Diane Taylor |