Immigration officials detained mother unlawfully

The children were already in foster care as the mother, who is a Jamaican national, had served a prison sentence for drugs offences before being detained for immigration reasons.

But while detained the UK Border Agency (UKBA) decided to deport her and her three children, despite her detention making it impossible for social workers to assess the impact of the move on their welfare or her parenting ability.

In his judgment Mr Justice Blair ruled that her detention between May and September last year had "become unreasonable" and unlawful.

He also noted concerns raised by the children’s commissioner for England that the necessary parenting assessment checks could not be carried out while she was being detained.  

The Children’s Society and Bail for Immigration Detainees condemned the separation of families for immigration reasons. The two charities also highlighted that the three children were separated from each other in foster homes across the UK.

In a joint statement the charities said: "Our work with families separated by detention shows that children suffer severe consequences as a result of decisions to separate which do not take into account children’s best interests.

"Separating families, for the purpose of immigration control, is mentally and emotionally harmful to the young people involved."

A UKBA spokesman said: "We are considering the court’s judgment and its implications carefully. The UKBA exercises its powers to detain those foreign nationals that have no right to remain in the UK in order to facilitate their removal.
 
"We seek to ensure that powers to detain are exercised reasonably and lawfully, while maintaining effective immigration control."