The plan fell flat on its face.
Starmer promised to fix immigration. Yet, since his term started, we've just seen more of the same.
If you want to see how truly broken our system is...
Here's another look at our absurd deportation scandal.
Thread 🧵
Earlier this week, a 36-year-old Afghan migrant, who previously raped a 14-year-old girl in France, had his deportation delayed, partly because his prison cell might be too small.
His lawyer contended his prison cell might be smaller than three square metres if he is extradited.
In July, a convicted Pakistani criminal was allowed to stay in Britain after a judge ruled that deporting him would harm his son’s mental health.
The father of two had been jailed for over two years for possessing false identity documents, after living here for 18 years.
In June, an Algerian burglar and robber avoided deportation after claiming to be gay and transgender.
Back in 2013, the migrant went on a nine-month crime spree, resulting in convictions for burglary, attempted burglary, threatening behaviour, and theft.
Earlier in June, an Ugandan migrant with 42 convictions, including actual bodily harm and robbery, was allowed to stay after a judge ruled he “struggles mentally.”
He previously tried to thwart his deportation in 2019 by claiming to be gay, despite being a father of four.
Before that, a 24-year-old German citizen jailed for a machete attack, avoided deportation.
He was jailed for 4 yrs, but later successfully appealed to an upper tribunal, as the lower court "failed"'to properly consider immigration rules for EU citizens.
In April, an Afghan drug user won the right to stay after a judge ruled that the Taliban treats addicts too harshly.
A judge claimed that if the “vulnerable” migrant returned home, he “could be imprisoned and forced to go cold turkey” without access to methadone.
That same month, a Ghanaian asylum seeker won his claim to stay due to “trauma” from contracting Covid.
He argued that the virus had severely affected his health and that he wouldn’t receive adequate treatment if returned to Ghana.
Earlier in April, an Iranian migrant avoided deportation after posting political comments online, then claiming he had so many Facebook friends that the posts would circulate widely, putting him at risk of persecution if returned to Iran.
Also in April, an Afghan woman and her husband won the right to remain in the UK after a judge ruled she wouldn’t receive adequate treatment for her back pain under Taliban rule.
The court also heard she would “not accept” personal care from a male stranger.
In March, an Albanian criminal avoided deportation after a judge ruled that long-distance Zoom calls would be “too harsh” on his stepson.
The judge stated that “modern means” of communication were “no substitute” for physical presence.
Earlier that month, an illegal Iraqi migrant was allowed to remain after claiming his ID documents were stolen by the person who smuggled him into the country.
The judge ruled that returning him to Iraq without ID would put him at risk of mistreatment.
Also in March, a convicted Ghanaian criminal who was deported 12 years ago was allowed to return, after claiming that separation from his family had left him "depressed".
The father of two was deported to Ghana in 2013 after being convicted of fraud.
In February, a Jamaican drug dealer avoided deportation after promising to only smoke cannabis, not sell it.
A judge ruled in his favour, saying deportation would be “unduly harsh” on his children and that he “genuinely wants to avoid reoffending.”
Earlier in February, a Pakistani father convicted of child sex offences avoided deportation after a judge ruled it too would be “unduly harsh” on his children.
The court decided he should not be returned to Pakistan, citing the impact on his family.
Still in Feb—and this is an infamous case—an Albanian criminal was allowed to remain partly because his 10-yr-old son refused to eat foreign chicken nuggets.
The judge ruled it would be “unduly harsh” to force the boy to move.
In January, a Jamaican drug dealer who beat his partner avoided deportation after a judge ruled he should stay because his gender-questioning daughter only speaks to him.
The court was told the child does not speak to her mother about her gender identity.
Earlier in January, an Ugandan murderer who clubbed a man to death in the back of a London ambulance was spared deportation to protect his mental health.
The court ruled that deportation would cause a “serious, rapid and irreversible decline” in his mental state.
There are many more cases...
But in every single one, lawyers successfully cited the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to stop deportation.
Now perhaps you can see how the ECHR has been co-opted—again and again—to subvert the wider will of the British people.
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