Immigration - new material (78)
01 May 2005
Asylum legal aid crisis: evidence from the frontline, Kay Everett. Legal Action June 2005, pp. 7-8. Summary and commentary on the report Justice Denied: asylum and immigration legal aid, compiled by Bail for Immigration Detainees and Asylum Aid. The dossier presents evidence of the impact of cuts to legal aid that were introduced in April 2004 and considers 78 submissions from asylum seekers.
Support for asylum-seekers update, Sue Wilman. Legal Action June 2005, pp. 10-13. Covers welfare provision for asylum-seekers and other persons subject to immigration control.
Seeking asylum is not a crime: detention of people who have sought asylum. Amnesty International, 20.6.05. This report examines the plight of asylum-seekers detained for the duration of their asylum process under accelerated asylum-determination procedures. It concludes that thousands of people are detained unlawfully: "Detention was protracted, caused untold suffering, was unnecessary and, ultimately, in many cases failed to fulfil the authorities stated purpose of removal and was thus unlawful." Available on:
http://t2web:amnesty.r3h.net/library/print/ENGEUR450152005
Immigration law update, Alan Caskie. SCOLAG Legal Journal Issue 133 (June) 2005, pp. 158-162. Review of significant cases from Scotland and England in the field of asylum, immigration and nationality law.
Una regularización cerrada en falso, Mugak, n.30, January-March 2005, pp.59, Euro 6. This issue looks at the shortcomings of the recent immigrant regularisation process that took place in Spain, focusing on how Spanish immigration legislation provokes inequality and discrimination, as well as being ineffective, as is demonstrated by the fact that in twenty years, there have been five such regularisations. It includes testimonies about the disappointment that several migrants wishing to be regularised have experienced, on demonstrations that were held in Barcelona in favour of an expansion of the criteria for regularisation and on the "shameful" developments that are taking place beyond the southern borders of the EU, through the repressive activities of the Moroccan police and army against would-be migrants in northern Morocco. Available from: Mugak, Centro de Estudios y Documentación sobre racismo y xenofobia, Peña y Goñi, 13-1, San Sebastián 20002, Spain.
Get It Right: How Home Office decision making fails refugees. Amnesty International, February 2004. This report reveals that Home Office asylum decisions were "based on inaccurate and out-of-date country information, unresolved decisions about people's credibility and a failure to properly consider complex torture cases." It says: "Government figures show that the Home Office gets the initial decision wrong on nearly 14,000 asylum cases in the last reported calendar year (2002), meaning around 1 in 5 cases are overturned after costly appeals."
The Asylum and Immigration Tribunal: practice and procedure, Jane Coker, Judith Farbey & Allison Stanley. Legal Action June 2005, pp. 14-16. Introduction to the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal which came into being in April and replaces the immigration appeals structure created under previous statutes.