Important journalism from Dominic Arkwright on the BBC’s Broadcasting House Sunday Morning news show. It turns out that the ‘country reports’ produced by the Home Office on which immigration service deportation decisions are based are partial and inaccurate. Arkwright says:
“Some of the so-called Country Reports are so flawed, it’s said, that they’re virtually useless as a source of information for the caseworkers who have to decide whether it’s safe to send people back. Some reports are so selective in their use of materials that critics say they paint a deliberately positive picture, justifying the removal of asylum-seekers.”
I’m shocked. The officials responsible for making these life-threatening decisions have almost nothing to go on and, once a case is before a judge, these flawed country reports have the weight of independently-produced evidence, although they’re really anything but.
People are being returned to dangerous places on the basis of inaccurate and biased information and, presumably, so-called bogus applicants are being given leave to stay on the basis of equally useless information. It’s a genuine scandal that warrants immediate attention but I’ve seen no mention of these dodgy ‘country reports’ anywhere else in the mainstream media.