The UK government has introduced its latest effort to deter small boat migration, by vowing to remove all those who arrive in the UK illegally by any route. The illegal migration bill, if enacted, will apply retrospectively, meaning that those who arrived even before the bill’s passage will be subject to detention and arbitrary removal without a legal remedy.
The home secretary, Suella Braverman, immediately recognised the bill was likely to “push the boundaries of international law” and refused to make a statement of compliance with the Human Rights Act 1998. On closer inspection, it does not merely push the boundaries, it rides roughshod over domestic law, common law and the UK’s international human rights obligations.
The government’s justification for turning people away from seeking asylum is that people who have travelled by boat will have passed through other safe countries, where they should have claimed asylum first.
