In a strongly worded response to a high court decision blocking the removal of an asylum seeker under the “one in, one out” scheme, Shabana Mahmood railed at “last-minute vexatious claims” and “migrants suddenly deciding that they are a modern slave on the eve of their removal”.
The home secretary’s comments cast aspersions on the 25-year-old Eritrean in the individual case and asylum seekers more widely. But those who work in the system believe they do not reflect the reality of the way – and pace at which – the justice system and the framework for identifying victims of modern slavery work.
