Joint letter requests ICIBI inspection into Home Office decision making in cases involving children

BID has consistently raised a number of serious concerns that the Home Office is systematically failing to carry out its Section 55 duty to consider the best interests of the child in decisions around immigration detention, removal, deportation, refused entry and the revocation of status; and failing to give proper consideration to the right to respect of family and private life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. 

In this letter, co-authored by BID and Dr Melanie Griffiths, a Birmingham Fellow at the University of Birmingham, we call on the Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) to carry out a systemic inspection into Home Office decision making in cases involving children.

The letter was signed by the following signatories who share the concerns raised:

BARAC UK

Families for Justice

Gatwick Detainee Welfare Group

Association of Visitors to Immigration Detainees

Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association

Social Workers Without Borders

Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit

Detention Action

Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants

Migrant Children’s Project, Coram Children’s Legal Centre