Shanaz Ali, solicitor in our Immigration team, has been quoted in the Middle East Eye article: “Labour MPs and supporters ‘outraged’ by slew of harsh anti-immigration measures.”

The article reports the Home Office’s release of footage showing people boarding a jet for deportation, which Middle East Eye reports as an attempt to counter the rise of the Reform party.

This comes after the Labour party’s new measures against immigration. Shanaz discussed these new measures in a previous blog, here.

Lord Hanson, a minister of state at the Home Office, stated that individuals who entered the UK irregularly can still apply for citizenship and mitigating factors will be considered.

Shanaz said:

There is a presumption that, hopefully, the Home Office will take into account factors, and there might be some discretion, but it’s just not as clear as it was in previous guidance. The addition is a really short paragraph that says applications submitted [from] 10 February onwards where someone has entered illegally will normally be refused, so it doesn’t really tell you what sort of mitigating factors that the Home Office will take into account or expressly that they will at all.

So many people have been here for more than 10 years and are now at the point of applying for citizenship and are now worried to apply.

The government continues to say that individuals and families need to travel to the UK legally and come through safe routes, but there are no available safe routes for so many people.

Instead of making these policy changes, the government needs to make safe routes for people who are fleeing from terrible situations.