Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on the possibility of establishing third party agreements to enable the deportation of foreign nationals who refuse or who cannot safely be returned to their country of origin to return to a neighbouring country.

James Brokenshire

Discussions continue to take place between a number of Government departments on a regular basis on how we tackle illegal migration, including solutions to enable the return of foreign nationals.

Each asylum case is considered on its individual merits. Where it is accepted that an individual would face persecution in their country of origin or it would be otherwise unsafe for them to return, some form of protection would normally be granted in the UK. If protection is not granted, then whether or not removal can be enforced, we expect failed asylum seekers to return home.

Generally, there are no countries to which, as a matter of immigration policy, we cannot remove. However there may be some countries where at any one time it is difficult logistically to undertake enforced removals.

We are in discussions with EU partners on how to take forward proposals to return those who travel through safe third countries back to those areas they transited through, or to establish zones of protection to which failed asylum seekers could be returned when return to their country of origin is not possible.

The UK also participates in a number of EU readmission agreements, some of which include clauses for returning third country nationals.