09 March 2020
The UK's "immigration exemption" in the Data Protection Act 2018 has now affected over 20,000 people.
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"At least 20,000 people have been denied information that could prove their right to stay in the UK, in what campaigners are warning is a revival of the ‘hostile environment’.
A controversial loophole – passed into law despite warnings it risked “the next Windrush” – has been used to block almost 43 per cent of requests for the government to release vital data, The Independent can reveal.
The huge impact of the clause – allowing data to be kept secret if release would “undermine immigration control” – comes despite ministers promising it would be used only on a “case-by-case basis”."
UK: At least 20,000 people denied information that could prove right to live in UK, in new ‘hostile environment’ clampdown (The Independent, link)
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