Minister to make first major speech on immigration

Two illegal immigrants are in line for thousands of pounds in damages after the High Court ruled today that both were unlawfully detained by the Home Office pending deportation.
The cases involve Vasyl Vovk, a Ukrainian national who has since returned home, and Bironjit Kumar Datta, from Bangladesh, who is now free on bail in the UK.
Both served short prison sentences for using false documents and were recommended at their trials for deportation.
But the Home Office authorities failed to make prompt decisions on whether they should continue to be held pending deportation once they had served their prison sentences.
Today Mr Justice Calvert Smith, sitting at the High Court in London, declared unlawful the period they remained in custody before their continued detention was properly authorised under immigration legislation.
The judge ruled: "At the time Mr Vovk and Mr Datta stopped serving their sentences and remained at Lewes prison there was no intention - because no decision had been made one way or the other - to deport them.
"The cases were simply not on the (Home Office's) radar at the time."
In Mr Vavka's case, it was over six weeks before a decision was made, "the equivalent of a three-month sentence", and eight days in the case of Mr Datta.
The judge, who revealed there were other similar cases involving the Home Office, said there had been a failure to show "reasonable diligence and expedition".
Under Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights, protecting the right not to be unlawfully detained, both men had an enforceable right to compensation, said the judge.
Last week, the same judge held that a child rapist who posed a high risk of reoffending should receive damages, unofficially estimated at up to £50,000, was also detained unlawfully pending deportation.
The High Court rulings have caused concern at the Home Office.
Today Jenni Richards, appearing for the Home Secretary, asked for leave to appeal against the two latest rulings, saying the judge's decision raised issues "of wide public importance".
Refusing the application, the judge said the facts in both cases, which could result in pay-outs human rights lawyers estimate at between £5,000 and £15,000, were "identical" to other cases, including one in which the Home Secretary conceded that detention had been unlawful.
In his judgment, the judge said Mr Vovk entered the UK in July 2002 and later took employment using a false identity.
On November 1, 2005, he was onvicted at Chichester Magistrates' Court of using a false money order whilst unlawfully in the country and sentenced to 28 days' imprisonment.
The court also recommended him for deportation.
Soon after arriving in Lewes prison, East Sussex, he was notified that his unconditional release date had been set at November 8.
But he was not released on that day and continued to be held until his eventual removal from the UK.
It was not until December 22 that Mr Vovk was served by the Home Office, through the prison governor, with a notice of intention to deport and his detention regularised under the 1971 Immigration Act.
Mr Vovk said it was his intention to return to the Ukraine and he was eventually removed in March this year.
The judge said the Home Secretary had admitted a failure to follow his own policy, and had made concessions in other cases indistinguishable on their facts from Mr Vovk's case.
In the case of Mr Datta, he had arrived illegally in the UK at some date before January 2003.
He was arrested at a restaurant where he worked in June 2003 as an illegal entrant but then claimed asylum.
The application was refused and his appeal rejected in November 2003, meaning that he remained an illegal entrant in the UK with no right to work or claim normal state benefits.
In October 2005 he was arrested while attempting to leave the UK for Canada using a false passport. He subsequently pleaded guilty to the offence of using a false instrument and was jailed for eight months and recommended for deportation.
He was sentenced on December 15, 2005 and, on beginning his sentence, was told that his unconditional release date was February 28, 2006, which allowed for time spent in custody on remand before conviction.
But Mr Datta was not released on February 28, said the judge. On March 7 his solicitors wrote to the Home Secretary, and the following day the Home Office formally authorised his detention pending his removal from the UK.
The judge said Mr Datta was not removed, but granted bail last September by an immigration judge.
The judge said the Home Office's own manual now required a decision to be made "at or before the time the sentence is completed".
The immigration service was also required to give reasons for any decision and detainees told of their rights to apply for bail.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-422429/Illegal-immigrants-win-co...