Priti to end asylum bid tricks of foreign killers
HOME Secretary Priti Patel is ready to overhaul the asylum system to stop it being abused by “vexatious claims” championed by “activist lawyers”.
The changes are expected to be tabled in the Foreign National Offenders Bill which will unpick the “over-generous” rules set in 1999 by Tony Blair’s Immigration and Asylum Act.
The Sunday Express understands the plans were put in motion following a meeting of the Home Secretary and the Common Sense group of more than 40 parliamentarians.
It was set up by former security minister Sir John Hayes to tackle holes in the immigration system.
A source close to Ms Patel said she is “fed up with leftie activist lawyers” using public money to challenge attempts to deport foreign nationals, sometimes criminals, who have no right to be here.
The source said: “The Home Secretary does not want murderers, drug pushers or grooming gang members who have no right to be here to remain in this country.
“The problem is that one excuse to remain gets turfed out by the courts and then they just come back with another one. It’s relentless. She wants to put an end to the stream of vexatious claims and make it easier and quicker to deport people.”
Around 14,000 asylum claims a year are rejected by the courts but only a third of these claimants are deported. The rest stay.
The problem came to a head in February when a last-minute ruling prevented the deportation of 25 out of 50 people back to the Caribbean.
They included a killer, two rapists and seven violent criminals.
Since then a group of Afghans awaiting a decision on their claims got permission to sue the Government over the conditions they were being held in.
Sir John said: “Our kingdom’s history is graced by the willingness of Britons to provide a safe haven for those in desperate need. But Britain’s role as a Good Samaritan is being undermined by a system that has become a vehicle for all kinds of horrors.
“From traffickers who see humans as nothing more than goods to be shipped, to economic migrants encouraged to feign fear of persecution, the degraded asylum regimen is as unethical as it is ineffective.
“The unwillingness of successive regimes to tackle this accounts for the EU referendum result and last December’s election. The people spoke, demanding that the Government take back control of our borders. their will must prevail.”