A group of MPs have written to the Home Secretary following a dawn raid on an asylum-seeking family which left a pensioner in hospital.
The eight SNP MPs – all seven Glasgow representatives along with the MP for Cumbernauld – have criticised the practice and say it is ‘immoral’ and an infringement of human rights.
It comes after a raid on a home in the north of Glasgow on April 23, where enforcement officers reportedly threatened a family with deportation.
They are believed to have lived in the UK for four and a half years, after fleeing from Pakistan amid a forced marriage attempt.
A 67-year-old man collapsed during the incident and was taken to hospital, before having to call a local immigration charity for help to get home.
His wife and daughter were said to have been left traumatised and scared, with officers warning them they would be returning.
SNP MPs have questioned whether the Home Office has changed its policy, saying they were led to believe the practice of dawn raids had ceased.
In their letter sent to Priti Patel today, the group said that “more than eight immigration officers arrived an elderly man’s home to detain and deport him” on April 23.
Anne McLaughlin, Stewart McDonald, Chris Stephens, Alison Thewliss, David Linden, Carol Monaghan, Patrick Grady and Stuart McDonald all signed the letter.
They added: “We understand that no prior warning was given to this individual, and the actions can therefore only be described as a ‘dawn raid’.
“This appalling practice, which we had understood should have come to an end some years ago, is unacceptable.”
They said the raids, which are carried out without notice, “has been repeatedly condemned by the people of Glasgow and more widely across Scotland.”
The SNP MPs added: “It is an infringement of basic human rights and an insult to the dignity of those subject to the raids. It is particularly appalling that the UK Government are prepared to deport an elderly man with poor health, and the decision to do this during a global pandemic is nothing short of immoral.”
They have asked Ms Patel to “urgently clarify” if the UK Government has changed its policy, and said they were “already concerned about the impact of lockdown on our asylum-seeker and refugee communities, and the difficulty that Home Office policies have caused many of them in accessing advice and support services.”
The Home Office previously said its Immigration Enforcement officers take the health and wellbeing of those in their care extremely seriously and a full risk assessment and consideration of any vulnerabilities is taken before any enforcement visit.
The department also said that when people have no right to remain in the UK it would expect them to go home voluntarily, and when they repeatedly refuse, it will look to enforce their removal.
It added that the Government is bringing forward a new plan for immigration that is "fair but firm", which is intended to stop the abuse of the system and expedite the removal of those who have no right to be in the UK.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel