Judges: Courts overwhelmed by deportation and asylum cases
THREE senior judges have made an extraordinary plea for help in dealing with the avalanche of immigration, asylum and extradition cases clogging up the courts
They said the Court of Appeal is under ‘considerable strain’ and expressed concern about ‘unacceptable delays’ before cases are heard.
The call came as they ruled that a ‘large- scale’ cannabis grower, who has been fighting a three-and-a-half-year battle to stay in the UK, should be deported back to China.
It can be revealed after the Daily Mail exposed a string of scandals involving foreign criminals and fugitives who have launched lengthy and expensive appeals to avoid being kicked out of the country.
After dismissing the Chinese cannabis farmer’s appeal against deportation, Appeal Court judge Sir Stanley Burnton said there is a ‘strong public interest’ in the removal of foreign criminals, and that this should be ‘expeditious and effective’.
But the appeal was heard twoand-a-half years after an Upper Tribunal had ruled he should be deported, he added.
‘Such a delay, which is not unusual, is incompatible with an expeditious and effective procedure for deportation,’ he said.
‘Indeed, it is important that all immigration cases… should be heard and determined speedily. The resources of the Court of Appeal are at present, and have been for some time, under very considerable strain. This inevitably leads to delays, such as
From Wednesday’s Mail that in the present case, which are unacceptable.
‘There is a strong public interest in the court having the resources it needs to ensure such appeals are determined with the expedition they require.’
Sir Stanley’s comments were backed in a judgment on June 23 by Lord Justice Lindblom and Lord Justice Flaux.
The Chinese cannabis grower, a 44-year-old chef known only as WZ, was initially refused asylum after arriving in the UK in 1998 but in 2009 he, his wife and two children were granted ‘indefinite leave to remain’. By 2011 his wife and children had been granted British citizenship.
The following year he was jailed for two years for ‘large- scale’ cannabis production and he was later told he was liable for ‘automatic deportation’. However, he successfully argued at an immigration tribunal that his human right to a family life would be breached if he was deported.
But Theresa May, then home secretary, successfully appealed against the decision in late 2014, when an Upper Tribunal ruled his deportation should go ahead. That prompted WZ to take his case to the Court of Appeal.
On Thursday the Mail reported how hate preacher Tarik Chadlioui, 43, was allowed to live in the UK for two years and is now trying to use human rights laws to fight extradition to Spain. The Moroccan imam, who holds a Belgian passport, is thought to have radicalised Omar Mostefai, who blew himself up during the Bataclan theatre siege that claimed 89 lives in Paris in 2015.
On Wednesday the Mail revealed that two Romanian fugitives cannot be extradited because jail cells in their homeland are too small to comply with rulings from the European Court of Human Rights.
This has delayed the removal of the pair from Britain, hitting taxpayers with court costs and legal aid bills.
Last Saturday we exposed the case of Somalian thug Abdi Yusuf, who has been fighting deportation for five years.
Weeks after the High Court ruled Yusuf, 41, was eligible for damages for being detained unlawfully pending deportation, he was jailed for six months for assaulting a woman. This is likely to hold up his deportation until at least next year.