High Court rules Home Office acted unlawfully by failing to identify vulnerable asylum seekers not suitable for the fast track process
The Government has suffered another defeat over the detained fast track process used for speeding up asylum applications, Garden Court Chambers reported.
The Government yesterday suspended the process following a number of rulings that it was unlawful.
According to Garden Court Chambers, the High Court today declared that putting four vulnerable detainees through the fast track process was unfair.
Medical practitioners had expressed concerns that all four detainees were victims of torture. Although the Home Office's policy is not to detain and subject victims of torture to a fast-track process, each of these claimants was put through the system now accepted by the Immigration Minister to be unfair, Garden Court says.
Garden Court has published a transcript of the judgment here.
According to Garden Court, the four claimants are part of a wider litigation involving a total of 27 claimants who all brought claims in the High Court to challenge the Secretary of State's decision to subject them to the fast track process.
Today's ruling directly led to yesterday's Government announcement that the detained fast track process would be suspended.
The Guardian reported on today's "landmark ruling" and says it could lead the way to hundreds of torture victims being able to sue the government for unlawful detention, and many of these cases could now be reconsidered by the Home Office.
According to the Guardian, the Home Office conceded that it acted unlawfully by failing to identify vulnerable asylum seekers not suitable for the fast track process, and thus failed to use a rule that should prevent survivors of torture and other vulnerable asylum seekers from being locked up.
A solicitor in the case told the Guardian: "These were four clients but indicative of a significantly wider group of vulnerable people locked up, disbelieved and refused asylum. Some have been removed. Some still languish in detention. Our cases, coupled with the government's change of position, will pave the way for countless unlawful detention claims and reviews to negative asylum decisions."
Garden Court Chambers' Stephanie Harrison QC said: "From its inception, the Detained Fast Track system has been subject to controversy and concern because it sanctioned detention of asylum seekers for nothing more than administrative convenience. The courts have consistently found the fast track system to lack sufficient safeguards to prevent vulnerable groups being caught up in the system such as children and victims of torture and trafficking. In 2014, the High Court ruled the fast track system was still continuing to operate unfairly in respect of the same vulnerable groups. It is a very significant development that the Home Secretary and her department have now recognized that it is openly unfair and must be suspended for a comprehensive review to take place".