In an effort to stop deportations, the UK government said on Sunday that it will broaden a program that requires certain foreign nationals to have appeals against convictions heard from outside.
People from such countries will now be deported before they can challenge their convictions, and the number of countries participating in the project will almost triple to 23.
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood stated in a separate statement that she plans to amend the legislation to ensure that the majority of foreign criminals who are sentenced to prison would be deported right away.
According to Mahmood, the plan could save money because foreign national criminals make up about 12% of the prison population.
The steps come as Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s centre-left Labour government faces intense domestic pressure over immigration, as Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform UK party surges in polls.
Farage, a longtime critic of immigration, has made the issue central to his party’s messaging, alongside a focus on crime.
Starmer’s government, which has slumped in popularity since taking power a year ago, has made a flurry of announcements on both policy areas in an apparent bid to counter Reform’s appeal.
The interior ministry said the expansion of the pre-appeal deportation scheme will increase “the UK’s ability to remove foreign criminals at the earliest opportunity”.
It will also ease pressure on overcrowded prisons, it noted.
The ministry added that almost 5,200 convicted criminals with foreign passports had been removed since July 2024, claiming that represented a 14 percent year-on-year increase.
Under the “deport now appeal later” scheme, those convicted and whose human rights claims have been refused will have appeals heard from their home coutries using video technology.
It has already been used for people from Tanzania, Finland, Estonia, Belize and four other countries but will be expanded to 15 additional countries.
They include European nations Latvia and Bulgaria, African countries Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Uganda and Zambia, Western allies Australia and Canada as well as India, Indonesia, Lebanon and Malaysia.
The government said ministers are discussing with other countries about joining the scheme.
“For far too long, foreign criminals have been exploiting our immigration system, remaining in the UK for months or even years while their appeals drag on,” interior minister Yvette Cooper said.
“That has to end. Those who commit crimes in our country cannot be allowed to manipulate the system,” she added.
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