In what has emerged as a seriously questionable action by authorities in the UK, a Guardian report has detailed how children and women who have faced sexual assault/ domestic violence are among the more than 2,000 victims of serious crime reported to immigration enforcement, according to two official records.
A UK Home Office document states that between 2020 and 2022, UK police referred 2,546 victims of offences such as domestic violence, child sexual exploitation, adult sexual exploitation, human trafficking, and modern slavery to immigration enforcement.
‘Victims Twice Over’
Another Home Office document acquired by the Guardian – marked “official, sensitive” – showed that a quarter of domestic violence victims referred by police to immigration enforcement were “served with enforcement documents”.
Experts have raised concerns over the action deterring people from reporting serious crime.
As per the report, David Carrick, a Met officer and serial rapist, threatened one of his victims with deportation if she notified anybody about his attacks on her.
A senior Conservative MP told the Guardian that reporting victims of major crimes to immigration enforcement makes them “victims twice over,” and the domestic abuse commissioner says the practise puts them in even more danger.
In 2020, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary advocated for a stop to reporting domestic abuse victims to immigration unless there was clear proof of an immigration infringement, claiming that “substantial harm to the public interest” was being inflicted. Police chiefs and the Home Office disagreed, the report said.
What Did the Report Find?
According to data obtained by the news website the Detail under freedom of information legislation, from 2020 to 2022, at least 423 victims of domestic abuse – believed to be largely female – were reported to the Home Office’s immigration enforcement branch, the report said.
The unit received reports of 2,546 victims of serious crime, including at least 67 victims of child sexual exploitation, 11 victims of domestic servitude, 20 victims of forced marriage, 601 victims of human trafficking, 749 victims of modern-day slavery, and 51 victims of sexual exploitation.
The Metropolitan Police, the UK’s largest force, referred the most crime victims to immigration enforcement, with 460 referrals. Police Scotland, the UK’s second largest police force, made 207 referrals.
West Midlands police, the third largest force, made 222 recommendations; West Yorkshire, the fifth largest, made 143; and Greater Manchester police, the fourth largest, made 132.
Scared to Report Crime
Southall Black Sisters, headquartered in west London, told the Guardian one of their cases included a woman who escaped female genital mutilation in Nigeria, fled, and came to live with a relative in the UK, only to be held prisoner in the house. Her visa expired, and she became an overstayer; her desire to flee the abuse was blocked because she was too afraid to inform the police for fear of being deported. She eventually received assistance.
Another woman in the UK on a spousal visa was abused by her husband and threatened with deportation and separation from her child if she informed the police, and still has not gone to the authorities.
What the Second Document Revealed
As per the report, the second Home Office document states that one-quarter of domestic violence victims referred to immigration by police were served with enforcement papers, indicating that coming forward to report a crime resulted in them being investigated for deportation.
The Guardian got an official/sensitive document that covers the period from April to December 2020. According to the document, 32 domestic abuse victims were served with enforcement papers out of 128 “referrals of domestic abuse victims,” and none were jailed.
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