Domestic abuse victims are being reported to immigration officials when they turn to the police for help, according to data published by an independent watchdog.
The 43 police forces in England and Wales and the British Transport Police have all referred victims or survivors of abuse to immigration enforcement in the last three years, prompting urgent calls for reform of the system.
The threat of being reported to the Home Office is often used by the perpetrators of domestic abuse to control their victims, according to the domestic violence commissioner, Nicole Jacobs.
One of those targeted by David Carrick, the Metropolitan police officer who was jailed for life after admitting to 85 serious offences during a 17-year campaign of attacks against women, said he had threatened her with deportation.
Jacobs said the practice of reporting victims to immigration enforcement stopped people from coming forward and allowed perpetrators to evade justice.
She said: “At the point when victims have come to the police for safety from abuse, they are met with what many fear most: contact with immigration enforcement. Migrant victims have told me that this plays into the perpetrator’s tactics of control.
“This data shows there is not a single police force where migrant victims are treated as victims first and foremost. This must change now. Only with the introduction of a firewall can the victims and prisoners bill ensure justice and protection for all, not just some, victims.”
Jacobs has written to the home secretary, Suella Braverman, calling for a firewall to stop police and other services from reporting complainants to immigration enforcement.
Police made 537 referrals to the Home Office for immigration investigation in relation to victims and survivors reporting domestic abuse from April 2020 to March 2023, according to the figures obtained by the commissioner from the Home Office.
According to a report published by the commissioner, police officers called immigration enforcement in front of one victim, when she reported her ex-partner.
The report says: “This was the first time Lucia sought support from the police after three years of being in an abusive relationship. She felt let down by the police and fearful of removal from the country as a consequence of having reported the crime. The perpetrator continued to harass and threaten her.
“Lucia contacted her caseworker, extremely distressed, saying she did not want to have any contact with the police. As abuse escalated again, her caseworker tried to convince her to make another report, which Lucia opposed as she was more afraid of deportation. Eight days after the police report, Lucia got an immigration enforcement letter.”
The immigration enforcement letter led the woman to withdraw from domestic abuse support.
The commissioner found that no enforcement action such as detention or removal was made in the three years to March 2023. Jacobs said: “That no immigration enforcement action was taken against victims shows us that this practice is serving no one, but the fear it instils creates a high cost to the safety of victims and the public.”
The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) guidance to forces says they may share basic information, including an address, with immigration enforcement if they suspect a victim or witness may not be legally residing in the UK
The NPCC said, however, that officers did not routinely investigate victims’ migration status.
Jacobs said she wanted the government to amend the victims and prisoners bill when it returns to parliament in autumn this year.
Imkaan, a charity that focuses on addressing violence against women and girls from ethnic minority backgrounds, has reported that 90% of women with insecure immigration status who experienced domestic abuse had their abusers use the threat of their removal from the UK to dissuade them from going to the police.
• In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid. In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org.
