In what is undoubtedly another blow to relations between the UK and EU, dozens of the bloc’s citizens have been held in immigration removal centres and airport detention rooms after attempting to enter the UK without work visas or residency status.
The move appears to be an extension of the British government’s controversial ‘hostile environment policy’, with EU nationals held for up to 7 days before being returned to their home countries. Severe reductions in the number of returning flights and compulsory testing, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, are partially responsible for the lengthy periods of detention.
Though official data is yet to be released by the Home Office, reports suggest that at least 30 individuals – including German, Greek, Italian, Romanian and Spanish nationals – have been detained by border officials since the start of the year.
Much of the confusion stems from whether EU citizens can enter the UK ahead of a prospective job interview. Many Europeans have been detained as a result, despite Home Office rules specifically allowing for individuals without work visas to attend interviews.
Marta Lo Martire, an Italian national who was detained at Heathrow Airport after trying to enter the UK, spoke of a convoluted and intimidating process, stating that:
“I hadn’t done anything wrong, and I thought that all of my documents were in order. I f
Dozens of EU citizens arbitrarily detained at UK borders
und myself surrounded by walls and wire fences, windows with bars and security gates.”
The detention of EU nationals in this manner has been branded “grossly disproportionate” and “heavy-handed” by experts and diplomats. Dacion Cioloș, president of the Renew Europe group of MEPs, said that:
“Sending young EU nationals to immigration detention centres is grossly disproportionate and breaches the spirit of good cooperation we would expect”
Similar concerns were voiced by a group of 8 MEPs who wrote to European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, expressing their antipathy toward the Home Office’s approach. The Commission has since released a statement on the subject, with a spokesperson saying that:
“the EU Delegation is following this case closely, in particular the conditions and the duration of retention, which are a source of concern.”
Dimitrios Giannoulopoulos, head of the law department at Goldsmiths, University of London, said that:
“The application of excessive immigration detention to EU citizens arriving in the U.K., innocently thinking they might be able to search for work when they are here or making similarly reckless mistakes about their right to stay or work in the country, is a reminder of the harsh new realities that EU citizens will face in the U.K. after Brexit, including the traumatic experience of immigration detention without time limits, that the U.K. Border Force unexceptionally applies to third-country citizens”
The Home Office has since offered new guidance to its border force, stating that, where appropriate, EU citizens who are awaiting removal should be granted immigration bail.