The Home Office appears to have contradicted its own guidance on GPS tagging, which prioritised “very high harm offenders”, after it announced the devices would be used on asylum seekers arriving in the UK.
An 86-page guidance document titled “Immigration Bail” was published on 31 January 2022. It includes a large section about the GPS tagging of migrants and does not mention asylum seekers who have not committed crimes as a priority group for GPS tagging.
It states that the tags are most likely to be used “where a person poses a high risk of harm to the public on the basis of criminality and/or in cases concerning national security”.
It adds: “There will be fewer devices available than the number of individuals subject to the duty. As a result, there will be a need to regulate the use of the devices.”
The January guidance also sounds a note of caution about tagging people with mental or physical health problems and those who claim to be survivors of torture or trafficking. While that group will not be automatically excluded from tagging, the issues should be considered before a decision is made.
The aim of new guidance announced by the Home Office on 15 June to apply GPS tags to asylum seekers who arrive in small boats or in lorries in a 12-month pilot scheme is to deter them from absconding.
However, a freedom of information request obtained by Brian Dikoff of Migrants Organise revealed that absconding rates of those released from immigration detention are extremely low – 3% in 2019 and 1% in 2020.
There were legal challenges to the lawfulness of GPS tagging by the Home Office even before the latest announcement last week.
Janet Farrell of Bhatt Murphy Solicitors, who has issued proceedings in the high court, said: “The way the Home Office is using GPS as a condition of immigration bail means our clients are subject to 24/7 surveillance and data collection on all their movements, on an indefinite basis. There are serious concerns about the legality of this intrusive policy that need to be tested in the courts.”
Rudy Schulkind, research and policy manager at the charity Bail for Immigration Detainees, said: “This is a thoroughly dehumanising policy designed to ensure that certain people can never be allowed to enjoy a moment of peace, dignity or community. With rates of absconding so low, it is designed to solve a problem that does not exist. We urge the government to rethink this atrocious policy.”
The organisation Privacy International has also expressed concerns about the policy. Campaigners describe GPS tagging as “a highly punitive surveillance measure”.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The government will not be deterred as we plan for the next flight to Rwanda. We will keep as many people in detention as the law allows, but where a court orders that an individual due to be on Tuesday’s flight should be released, we will tag them where appropriate.”
Home Office sources said that those posing a high risk of harm to the public would continue to be tagged, that medical issues and torture would be taken into consideration before applying tags to asylum seekers, and that it would be for judges to decide whether a tag will be part of an individual’s bail requirements if they are going to be released from immigration detention where the majority of those issued with notices of intent or removal directions for Tuesday’s cancelled Rwanda flight remain.
