Simon Cox Profile picture
Dec 23, 2021 15 tweets 6 min read Read on X
Electronic tagging in UK for asylum-seekers?

Home Office Anon tells Sun its the cheap, easy answer to stop Channel crossings.

Tl;dr that claim is bogus - but lays the ground for massive extension of the surveillance state.

THREAD 1/
125,000 asylum-seekers in UK. Application numbers historically low, but pending claims high because Home Office officials refuse to decide cases, procrastinating for years instead of issuing permits to refugees & others they can’t remove. commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-brief… 2/
Some asylum-seekers are detained. But vast majority are on “immigration bail”, a scare-criminal-sounding re-labelling of “temporary admission” by May’s Immigration Act 2016 3/
Home Office already has legal power to impose electronic monitoring as a condition of immigration bail. GPS tag fixed around ankle.

If this is justified…. 4/
HOAnon gets Sun to say electronic tagging is cheap and effective.

Like the £60 million scheme for prisoners condemned … by the Sun? 5/
Right now Home Office uses electronic tagging for people with a criminal record facing deportation. It takes up to 72 hours to fit a tag (they say).

How much would this cost the public to do to asylum-seekers?

The Sun doesn’t say. 6/
So what’s the point? Sun says it’s because “more than a million illegal immigrants are working in UK”

That would be 1 in 30 of all UK workers - wild if true. ons.gov.uk/employmentandl… 7/
If 1 in 30 UK workers are “illegal immigrants” why did police and Home Office only find 53 such workers in the last quarter year? 8/
In HomeOfficeAnon fantasy land, there’s a million people who came on a boat to work in UK.

Because “in EU ID cards are required for jobs”.

THATS TRUE IN UK TOO. Employers have to check documents of employees. 9/
Home Office knows illegal working isn’t - on the evidence - a pull factor for asylum-seekers. They’ve done the research, which is why they won’t publish it. @freemovementlaw explains freemovement.org.uk/experts-to-hom… 10/
So it’s not about ID checks, HOAnon. That’s just lying fluff.

It’s surveillance - that’s the value of GPS tagging.

As @BIDdetention warns here biduk.org/articles/805-b… 11/
We know Home Office already uses records of how asylum-seekers spend they’re measley £39 per week to spy on them. As @privacyint explain privacyinternational.org/news-analysis/… 12/
To justify electronic monitoring, HO Anon calls for *curfews* on asylum-seekers. It’s easy to show “GPS was outside allowed zone at x time” than show someone was working.

Add a new “crime” to justify the new tool. 13/
Under current law, immigration judges could be called on to decide whether imposing an electronic tag is justified. Will Patel try to escape that independent oversight? Immigration Bill amendment? 14/
Should you worry at plans to electronically track the people who come to the UK because they believe it’s a free country?

If you’re not an asylum-seeker?

Or a dual citizen?

Or someone with a criminal record?

Or someone who might want to protest?

That’s up to you. 15/15

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More from @SimonFRCox

Jul 26, 2023
THREAD Why *now* for an article about crooked immigration lawyers?

Rwanda policy is in crisis and Govt need to throw mud at immigration lawyers.

This is distraction and dangerous. 1/
I’ve represented numerous victims of crooked immigration lawyers. My clients were genuine (they won in the end) but the lawyers they went to didn’t know how to prepare a real claim, they only knew how to invent a fake one. 2/
Crooked immigration lawyers are bad people. They don’t just break important laws - they rip off genuine refugees and give an excuse to turn on honest lawyers, too! 3/
Read 16 tweets
Jun 15, 2022
I’m a human rights lawyer, and I represented 42 Bangladeshi strawberry pickers challenging the Greek Gov in the European Court for refusing to punish the farmers who exploited them.

And I am not alone 🧵 + Image
UK human rights lawyers took the Home Office to court in hundreds of successful cases when Ministers blocked legal & safe routes from Europe for refugees with family in the UK driving them into the hands of smugglers +
Greek human rights lawyers have fought for decades to create a proper asylum system in Greece, so that refugees in Greece wouldn’t have to use smugglers to get them to a country with a proper system.

They’re still fighting. +
Read 6 tweets
Apr 14, 2022
“UK will send asylum-seekers to Rwanda!!” is IMO:

90% “we’re tough!”propaganda to voters, Tory MPs, Patel looking in the mirror

9% almost pointless “don’t come here!” propaganda to refugees

1% immigration policy +
Actual removals to Rwanda will only ever be a tiny number of UK’s refugees.

For everyone else it’s symbolic.

Patel & Johnson’s choice of symbol.
Patel’s nightmare: HO sends some refugees to Rwanda and hardly anyone else cares:

- no “tough” headlines, no drinking liberal tears

- no asylum-seekers en route to UK supposedly changing their minds (will happen anyway because of this announcement, but barely)
Read 4 tweets
Mar 29, 2022
UK Home Office trails “Ukrainian Extension Scheme” to start 3 May 2022 for those with permission to stay granted before 18 Mar 2022, which is current or expired after 1 Jan 2022. No details yet. gov.uk/guidance/ukrai…
Let’s hope Gov grants Ukrainians already in UK at least the same leave as those coming under Homes for Ukraine. Would be bizarre if those already here temporarily were treated worse. They can’t go home! +
Home Office shouldn’t limit the scheme to arrivals before 18 March. Some people with visitor visas arrived after.

And they shouldn’t limit it to people who had leave. Why should asylum-seekers be treated differently?
Read 4 tweets
Mar 10, 2022
160,000 people are calling on British Gov to lift visas for Ukrainian refugees. Please sign and encourage others to. petition.parliament.uk/petitions/6095…
Visas aren’t for security - that’s done at U.K. Borders, as I explain here globalplayer.com/catchup/lbc/uk…
Listen to @CateBriddick explain clearly how lifting visas allow UK to help refugees who want to come - we dont need a new system. globalplayer.com/catchup/lbc/uk…
Read 4 tweets
Feb 27, 2022
Will UK *now* announce real change on Ukraine refugees? I don’t believe so - more popular pressure will be needed. Short 🧵 theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/f…
Current position is - tiny concessions for Ukrainians with close family in UK - none for others. +
Patel’s strategy in her spat with @DavidLammy was clear - dress up moving staff around as if rules have been changed, when they haven’t. +
Read 7 tweets

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