FOREIGN nationals who were locked up by the Home Office won a record amount in compensation last year – often successfully suing on the basis the government was too SLOW to deport them.
In the last five years a total of £53.2million has been paid in compensation to 2,222 people who brought successful cases against the Home Office for illegal detention.
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Often the claimants manage to use Human Rights legislation to help win their cases – which are being settled with average payouts of almost £25,000.
The Home Office can detain people it is trying to deport but it can only keep them locked up for what lawyers state is a “reasonable period”, so if the case drags on too long they can frequently
claim cash compensation.
Lawyers, who can pick up the cases on a no-win no-fee basis, say payouts can be boosted if guards are too severe and use equipment like handcuffs.
Experts say the “shock factor” of being detained means just the first day in custody can be worth as much as £1,000 to somebody who brings a successful case.
These people will have been held at immigration detention centres, which are run like jails, and are meant to be used as a holding facility before a person is either deported or allowed to legally stay in the UK.
Many of the payouts were made to foreign criminals who successfully fought against a Government-backed application to deport them.
Others who won Home Office compensation were people the government were trying to deport under immigration laws, but who it was later found should have been allowed to stay in the UK.
One group of people who won payouts were EU nationals detained and deported because they were found to be sleeping rough.
Lithuanian Tomas Lusas won £10,000 after he was held in a detention centre for 19 days after being nabbed by officials sleeping on the streets in 2016.
He successfully fought off an attempt to deport him and then sued for his detention.
In just five years the number of successful cases for illegal detention brought against the Home Office has risen from 312 to 736, while the total in compensation has soared from £8.2million to last
year’s total of £16.1million.
In 2017 Somali career criminal Abdulrahman Mohammed, then aged 39, was awarded almost £80,000 after the Home Office admitted his illegal detention.
He had been granted asylum status in the UK but after committing a string of crimes he was held in a detention centre for a total of 445 days in three separate periods as officials tried to deport him.
After using Human Rights legislation to successfully fight his deportation he then won a payout on the basis that he was locked up for too long while the process dragged on.
The Home Office revealed the biggest settlement it made for illegal detention was a payout of £241,000, while in recent years there have also been payouts of £190,000, £156,000 and £140,000.
Alp Mehmet, Chairman of Migrationwatch UK, said: “These are the consequences of losing control of our immigration and asylum system.
“Ultimately, billions of pounds of British taxpayers’ money going on people who force their way into the country, which could be better spent on the growing needs of citizens of this country. Sadly, as
things are, it can only get worse.”
The Home Office declined to comment.
