Asylum seekers can be prosecuted for steering dinghies across the Channel, judge rules

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Asylum seekers can be prosecuted for steering their own dinghies across the English Channel, a High Court judge has ruled. “If a person is granted asylum, they will obtain leave to enter and remain … but the fact remains that they were, at the time they arrived, a person who required entry clearance under the immigration rules.” The ruling is being appealed as the government attempts to prosecute more asylum seekers for piloting small boats, despite mounting calls for safe and legal alternatives to the dangerous crossings. High Court rules that plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda are lawful “It will plainly, in my judgment, be in the interests of all concerned, and in the public interest, for these issues to be heard and considered by the Court of Appeal as soon as possible.” Canterbury Crown Court heard that since the Nationality and Borders Act came into force in June, around 78 people had been charged with the widened illegal entry offence. The court heard that Crown Prosecution Service guidance for the new laws state that the Refugee Convention must be considered when deciding on charges, and that asylum seekers who do not steer boats and are not “egregious cases” in any other way are unlikely to be charged.