Foreign nationals locked up by Home Office win record compensation

Foreign nationals locked up by the Home Office win record £42.2million in compensation for illegal detention – with many successfully claiming the government was too slow to deport them

• Record £12.7million was awarded to foreign nationals by Home Office last year 
• In the last five years, £42.2million has been paid to 1,698 people by Home Office 

Foreign nationals who were locked up by the Home Office won a record £12.7million in compensation last year – as many successfully claimed the Government was too slow to deport them. 

Between 2017 and 2022, a total of £42.2million has been paid to 1,698 people who brought successful cases against the Home Office for illegal detention.

The Home Office can detain people it is trying to deport but is only permitted to keep them locked up for what lawyers state is a ‘reasonable period’. Therefore, if the case goes 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.

Foreign nationals who were locked up by the Home Office won a record £12.7million in compensation last year. File image showing Manston Immigration Removal Centre in Kent

Between 2017 and 2022, a total of £42.2million has been paid to 1,698 people who brought successful cases against the Home Office for illegal detention. Pictured: Priti Patel who was Home Secretary between 2019 and 2022

These people will have been held at immigration detention centres which are meant to be used as a holding facility before a person is either deported or allowed into the UK.

Compensation awarded to foreign nationals by Home Office over five years 

2021/22: £12.7m awarded in 572 cases

2020/21: £9.3m awarded in 330 cases

2019/20: £6.9m awarded in 272 cases

2018/19: £8.2m awarded in 312 cases

2017/18: £5.1m awarded in 212 cases

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 who were 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 detained by officials while 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 212 to 572, while the total in compensation has soared from £5.1million to last year’s total of £12.7million.

In 2017, Somali career criminal Abdul Rahman 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.

Lithuanian Tomas Lusas (left) won £10,000 after he was held in a detention centre for 19 days after being detained by officials while sleeping on the streets. In 2017, Somali career criminal Abdul Rahman Mohammed (pictured right), then aged 39, was awarded almost £80,000 after the Home Office admitted his illegal detention. 

The Home Office has responded to the figures by saying it is ‘committed to the removal of foreign criminals and those with no right to be in the UK’. Pictured: Home Secretary Suella Braverman

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.

Home Office officials released figures for payouts for illegal detention in recent years, although the incidents that actually sparked the compensation could have happened many years earlier.

Last year the Home Office admitted 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: ‘How absurd. Vile criminals are able to use every legal device to game the system and thwart removal only for the courts to find in their favour and fine the government, ie the taxpayer, for failing to throw them out. Have we gone completely mad?’

A Home Office spokesperson said: ‘We are committed to the removal of foreign criminals and those with no right to be in the UK.

‘Immigration removal centres play a vital role in controlling our borders and an increasing number of those entering them have been small boat arrivals who have been detained to confirm their identity and register their asylum claim. 60% of those leaving detention in the latest year left within 7 days, and 78% are detained for less than 28 days.’

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