Illegal migrant can stay in UK because his ID was stolen

Telegraph

12-03-2025

An illegal Iraqi Kurd migrant has been allowed to stay in Britain because his ID documents were stolen by the 'agent' who got him into the UK.
The 31-year-old, who has not been named, has lost contact with his family since coming to Britain in 2016.
Upper tribunal judge Sarah Pinder said this meant that he could not expect any family members to help him retrieve the necessary identity documents to be able to return to Iraq. Nor was he likely to be able to get new ID papers from the Iraq embassy in London.
Returning to Iraq without documents to prove his identity would put him in danger because of the tough border controls and security checks operated by the state.
Judge Pinder ruled that this would put the migrant at risk of treatment that would breach his human rights under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which states that 'no one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in all circumstances'.
She granted the Iraqi Kurd 's appeal against his deportation by the Home Office, allowing him to remain in the UK 'on humanitarian protection grounds'.
The disclosure, in court documents, sets a potential precedent for Channel migrants with data showing as few as one in 50 arrive with passports, often after being told by people smugglers to destroy them. Iraq was one of the top seven nations for Channel crossings last year with 2,064 reaching the UK in small boats.
Labour has negotiated a new returns agreement with Iraq to swiftly deport illegal migrants who reach the UK from the country. It is part of a security pact for sharing intelligence and co-operation to crack down on people-smuggling gangs, which include many led by Iraqi Kurds.
The case is the latest example exposed by The Telegraph where illegal migrants or convicted foreign criminals have used human rights laws to remain in the UK or halt their deportations.
They include an Albanian criminal who avoided deportation after claiming his son had an aversion to foreign chicken nuggets, and a Pakistani paedophile who was jailed for child sex offences but escaped removal from the UK as it would be 'unduly harsh' on his own children.
'Defies common sense'
Chris Philp, shadow home secretary, said the ruling was 'ludicrous'.
'We cannot allow an illegal immigrant to stay in the UK simply because he claims to have lost his papers – anyone could make this claim. The Government should simply ask the Iraqi Embassy to issue the new relevant travel documents,' he said.
'Once again, we see a decision by an immigration judge that totally defies common sense. It is time judges in the immigration tribunal started applying some common sense and ensuring illegal immigrants with no right to be here are actually removed, rather than being allowed to stay on spurious or flimsy grounds.'
The court was told the Iraqi Kurd was 10 when he was taken in by his uncle after his mother remarried. She is believed to have moved to Iran. In the eight years since he came to Britain, he had lost contact with his uncle. Efforts to track him down by the Red Cross, and an Iranian friend who travelled to Iraq had failed.
'I do not accept that the Appellant can resort to his family members in order to assist him with retrieving any existing identity documents nor with otherwise meeting and/or vouching for him at any arrival in the Iraqi Kurdish Region (IKR) to permit his entry into the IKR,' said Judge Pinder.
She also said the 'level of information' provided by the Iraqi embassy was 'not sufficient for me to find that the appellant would be likely to secure identity documentation'.
Judge Pinder concluded: 'Thus, I am satisfied that the appellant is reasonably unlikely to secure an Iraqi identity document, whether in the UK or on arrival in the IKR, which would permit him to enter the IKR and to travel internally without subjecting him to treatment, contrary to Article 3 ECHR.'
Judge Pinder has made controversial rulings including allowing a Zimbabwean paedophile to stay in Britain because he would face 'hostility' in his home country.
She was also one of two judges to declare that a Sudanese asylum seeker was a child despite the Home Office saying he was at least 23 with a receding hairline.