Migrant’s Unbelievable Claim Works in Court: No ID, No Phone, No Deportation
An Iraqi man has managed to avoid being deported from the UK after claiming a people smuggler tossed his ID and forced him to get rid of his phone while on his way to Britain. According to The Telegraph, the man said he couldn’t provide phone numbers for his family because he simply didn’t know them by heart, making it impossible to replace his lost documents.
He told an immigration tribunal that he fled Iraq after facing threats of arrest over an alleged exam fraud. CCTV footage reportedly caught him delivering test papers to an address just a day before students were due to sit the exam—raising eyebrows over the timing.
Due to the fact that Iraqis can’t safely return to their country without proper ID—thanks to the risks of arrest or interrogation upon arrival, not to mention the difficulty of passing through checkpoints—the tribunal sided with him. The Home Office initially approved his appeal, and that decision was upheld by an upper immigration tribunal, despite some “inconsistencies” in his story, reported the Daily Mail.
The first judge’s analysis of his case was apparently flawed, which played a role in the ruling. However, the case isn’t over yet—it’s set to be fully re-examined in a fresh tribunal hearing. This isn’t a one-off either. In recent weeks, several cases have surfaced of individuals avoiding deportation under somewhat unusual circumstances.
Just last week, an Albanian man, Dritan Mazreku, was allowed to stay in the UK after a judge decided that Zoom calls wouldn’t cut it for his relationship with his teenage stepson. The tribunal heard that Mazreku, now 29, had been like a father to the boy since entering a relationship with his mother ten years ago. Even though he ended up in prison and faced removal from the country, the court felt it would be “unduly harsh” on the boy if Mazreku were sent back.
The judge said modern tech doesn’t quite replace being physically there, and regular visits to Albania just weren’t realistic. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper tried to argue he could still support his stepson from abroad, but that didn’t sway the ruling.
And in February, another criminal avoided deportation because his son wasn’t a fan of foreign chicken nuggets. Yep, really. Meanwhile, the Labour government is reportedly working on new plans to deal with rejected asylum seekers by setting up “return hubs” in countries like Albania, Serbia, Bosnia, and North Macedonia. These hubs, echoing previous Tory ideas about offshore processing (think Rwanda), are aimed at tackling the small boats crisis.
According to The Times, Labour wants to collaborate with European partners to roll out the scheme, especially now that the EU has greenlit the idea for its member states.