You don’t have to commit a particularly serious crime to receive 6 months’ imprisonment. You don’t even have to be sentenced at the Crown Court - under Patel’s plans, sentences passed at magistrates’ courts, in conditions of abject chaos, could lead to automatic deportation.
https://twitter.com/crimelinelaw/status/1345292685662441472
Important to note that there is already a mechanism by which the Home Office can deport foreign nationals who cause serious harm or persistently offend, and who receive sentences of 6 months. But Patel wants to make it automatic, irrespective of harm caused.
The position currently is that any foreign national sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment is liable for automatic deportation. These plans would radically increase the number of people affected.
Also important to note that the means test for legal aid in the magistrates’ court is far more stringent than in the Crown Court. As a result, many many people have no legal representation. Such people now face not only imprisonment but deportation as a consequence of conviction.
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