Immigration Crime

Control over who enters and stays in the UK is now firmly a matter for the criminal courts: the Government uses the threat of imprisonment to deter people from breaking immigration rules, and to isolate them from mainstream society – for example by criminalising those who employ or house people without status.

Increasingly these offences are directed towards vulnerable men and women who travel to the UK to seek a place of safety. These people will very often be accepted as genuine refugees, and given the right to remain in the UK, once they have been prosecuted and served time behind bars. 

At Commons we regularly take on the cases of refugees and other vulnerable migrants – such as those who have been trafficked. We receive referrals from the NGOs which support them on the ground, and work closely with these organisations throughout the criminal proceedings. 

Our expertise in this area has led to our involvement in important legal challenges, such as the case of R vBani et al [2021] EWCA Crim 1958, in which the Court of Appeal noted that ‘a heresy about [how the offence of unlawful arrival] had been adopted by those who were investigating these cases, and passed on to those who prosecuted them’.

We have recently represented several individuals charged with the new offence of unlawful entry. We have convinced the CPS to drop prosecutions that are not in the public interest, and we continue to argue before the courts that the way these cases are charged often amounts to an abuse of process.