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| Amber Rudd makes a staggering admission over immigration targets | Amber Rudd makes a staggering admission over immigration targets |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| “I don’t know what you’re referring to,” said Amber Rudd, the home secretary, as she was quizzed on Wednesday over the existence of targets for removing migrants from the country. | “I don’t know what you’re referring to,” said Amber Rudd, the home secretary, as she was quizzed on Wednesday over the existence of targets for removing migrants from the country. |
| Yvette Cooper, the chair of the Commons home affairs select committee, could barely contain her incredulity. Moments earlier, the head of the the union for immigration workers had confirmed there were net targets for removing illegal immigrants. | Yvette Cooper, the chair of the Commons home affairs select committee, could barely contain her incredulity. Moments earlier, the head of the the union for immigration workers had confirmed there were net targets for removing illegal immigrants. |
| So did the home secretary mislead the committee? Or is she oblivious to her department’s workings? | So did the home secretary mislead the committee? Or is she oblivious to her department’s workings? |
| Come Thursday morning, it appeared to be the latter. “The immigration arm of the Home Office has been using local targets for internal performance management,” she revealed in a staggering admission to the House of Commons in response to an urgent question. | Come Thursday morning, it appeared to be the latter. “The immigration arm of the Home Office has been using local targets for internal performance management,” she revealed in a staggering admission to the House of Commons in response to an urgent question. |
| At the committee hearing, there was a suggestion Rudd had no grasp of her department’s workings. | At the committee hearing, there was a suggestion Rudd had no grasp of her department’s workings. |
| “I didn’t hear that testimony, I’m not sure what shape that might be in,” Rudd said in reference to the existence of targets. | “I didn’t hear that testimony, I’m not sure what shape that might be in,” Rudd said in reference to the existence of targets. |
| Here’s what shape it might have been in. There are three layers of state-enforced or enforceable departures: deportations, administrative removals and voluntary departures. | Here’s what shape it might have been in. There are three layers of state-enforced or enforceable departures: deportations, administrative removals and voluntary departures. |
| Deportation is a specific term that applies to people and their children whose removal from the country is deemed “conducive to the public good” by the home secretary. It can also be recommended by a court. | Deportation is a specific term that applies to people and their children whose removal from the country is deemed “conducive to the public good” by the home secretary. It can also be recommended by a court. |
| Administrative removals or removals refer to a larger set of cases involving the enforced removal of non-citizens who have either entered the country illegally, outstayed a visa, or otherwise violated the conditions of their leave to remain in the UK. | Administrative removals or removals refer to a larger set of cases involving the enforced removal of non-citizens who have either entered the country illegally, outstayed a visa, or otherwise violated the conditions of their leave to remain in the UK. |
| Finally, we come to voluntary departures. Crucially, these individuals are still people against whom enforced removal has been initiated. The term “voluntary” simply describes how they depart. Within this category, are three sub-layers: those who depart by assisted voluntary return (AVR) schemes, those who make their own travel arrangements and tell the authorities, and those who leave without notifying the government. | Finally, we come to voluntary departures. Crucially, these individuals are still people against whom enforced removal has been initiated. The term “voluntary” simply describes how they depart. Within this category, are three sub-layers: those who depart by assisted voluntary return (AVR) schemes, those who make their own travel arrangements and tell the authorities, and those who leave without notifying the government. |
| It did not take long for evidence of departure targets to emerge. | It did not take long for evidence of departure targets to emerge. |
| In 2015, David Bolt, an inspector whose job it is to scrutinise the work of the immigration and borders system governed by the Home Office, published a report on enforced removals. Within the publicly available report, there are a number of references to targets. The key paragraph, 4.16, states: | In 2015, David Bolt, an inspector whose job it is to scrutinise the work of the immigration and borders system governed by the Home Office, published a report on enforced removals. Within the publicly available report, there are a number of references to targets. The key paragraph, 4.16, states: |
| “For 2014-15, the Home Office set a target of 7,200 voluntary departures, an average of 120 per week, with the weekly target rising to 160 by the end of March 2015. For 2015-16, the annual target was raised to 12,000. These targets were split between the 19 ICE teams across the UK.” | “For 2014-15, the Home Office set a target of 7,200 voluntary departures, an average of 120 per week, with the weekly target rising to 160 by the end of March 2015. For 2015-16, the annual target was raised to 12,000. These targets were split between the 19 ICE teams across the UK.” |
| In black and white in Bolt’s report, a clear reference to targets for “voluntary departures”. Not a reference, technically, to administrative removals, but a departure target nonetheless. | In black and white in Bolt’s report, a clear reference to targets for “voluntary departures”. Not a reference, technically, to administrative removals, but a departure target nonetheless. |
| But crucially Lucy Moreton, the head of the Union for Borders, Immigration and Customs, said the target culture in the immigration operations had trickled down from the headline “net migration target” that Theresa May, the prime minister, has so obstinately kept in place. | But crucially Lucy Moreton, the head of the Union for Borders, Immigration and Customs, said the target culture in the immigration operations had trickled down from the headline “net migration target” that Theresa May, the prime minister, has so obstinately kept in place. |
| It is important to make clear the target to reduce net migration – the difference between those leaving and arriving – to less than 100,000 (the most recent estimate puts the figure at 244,000) does not relate entirely to illegal migration. | |
| But it was launched in 2010 amid growing fears over the rise of Ukip and against a backdrop of ramped-up anti-immigration rhetoric, the same backdrop against which May unleashed her hostile environment policy in the 2014 and 2016 Immigration Acts to tackle illegal immigration. | But it was launched in 2010 amid growing fears over the rise of Ukip and against a backdrop of ramped-up anti-immigration rhetoric, the same backdrop against which May unleashed her hostile environment policy in the 2014 and 2016 Immigration Acts to tackle illegal immigration. |
| And that brings us back to the Windrush scandal. The jobs lost, the healthcare refused, the bank accounts decimated – lives of those with the right to be in the UK ruined by a policy targeted at illegal immigrants, built on an ideological pursuit of political targets. | And that brings us back to the Windrush scandal. The jobs lost, the healthcare refused, the bank accounts decimated – lives of those with the right to be in the UK ruined by a policy targeted at illegal immigrants, built on an ideological pursuit of political targets. |
| Amber Rudd | Amber Rudd |
| Conservatives | Conservatives |
| Immigration and asylum | Immigration and asylum |
| Commonwealth immigration | Commonwealth immigration |
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