Operation Gull

Irish Citizen Children of Non-National Parents

Law Centre (NI) briefing   

July 2007

Background

1. Operation Gull is a joint operation between Garda Síochána, PSNI and the UK Borders and Immigration Agency (BIA).

2. The operation has been running since at least mid to late 2005.

3. It targets migrants entering Northern Ireland , on domestic flights from South East England and on boats from Stranraer.  Those targeted are questioned and if it is suspected they are entering Northern Ireland with a view to entering the Republic of Ireland illegally or are suspected of another immigration offence they will be detained and removed from Northern Ireland .

4. Operation Gull runs on an irregular basis.  When it is in operation upwards of 50 individuals have been believed to be detained in one weekend.  It is impossible to say with certainty how many people have been caught up in Operation Gull but certainly hundreds, if not more.

5. Operational Gull is carried out at both City and International Airports and at Belfast and Larne Sea Ports .

Issues

1. The speed and secrecy under which Operation Gull is carried out results in individuals being unable to access independent legal advice that would be able to determine whether they have been detained lawfully.

2. There is no independent, transparent, oversight of Operation Gull.  

3. The legal basis of the operation has never been formally stated and therefore it has not been tested in law.

4. Given the secrecy with which the operation is carried out we have no knowledge of the guidelines for its operation, if there are any.  Our concern is that individuals could be targeted on grounds of ethnicity/nationality or other discriminatory grounds.

5. The proposed powers in the UK Borders Bill will only enhance the powers of immigration officers.

6. Immigration officers have been known to stop those not travelling through the Ports targeted by the operation i.e. stopping someone who is waiting to meet someone at the airport or sea port.

7. Those questioned by immigration officers on internal flights don’t have to answer questions unless there is a reasonable suspicion that an immigration offence has or is about to be committed.  However when asked they often answer and in doing so may give an answer, innocently, which is unhelpful to themselves and leads to their detention and removal.  We are concerned that the individuals are not being told that they do not have to answer these questions.

Goals

1. Data provided, for the numbers and nationalities of those detained and for how long Operation Gull has been running and how often it is undertaken.

2. Information provided on how often individuals detained in Operation Gull are held for more than 24 hours in custody suites and which suites are used.

3. Access to independent legal advice for all those detained under Operation Gull while they are still in Northern Ireland .

4. A clear statement provided of the powers on which the operation is based.

5. Transparent and independent oversight procedures put in place for the operation by immigration officers of Operation Gull.

6. To raise the profile of our concerns at assembly, parliamentary and police board levels.

Questions

1. To receive information as to what guidance is given to individuals as to their rights and to find out how often do they get to speak to independent legal advice.

2. What are the basic statistics for Operation Gull? 
1. How long has it been running?
2. How often are individual operations held?
3. How many people have been detained and how many have been removed? 
4. What are the nationalities of those detained?
5. How many officers are involved?

3. What is the role of PSNI in Operation Gull?

4. What questions are put to individuals stopped by immigration officers, under Operation Gull

Irish Citizen Children of Non-National Parents

A Law Centre (NI) briefing - July 2007

Background

1. Prior to 31 December 2004 children born in the ROI or NI were Irish citizens by birth.

2. While the number of children in this position is finite, there are still many children who were born here prior to 2005.

3. These children have full status within the UK comparable to any other Irish citizen EEA national and as such are fully entitled to remain in the UK with full EEA rights, as do many of their non-national family members.

4. When the South threatened removal of the parents of these children, there was a huge campaign against it which led to the Department of Justice, ultimately, announcing an amnesty.  There has been no such approach taken in Northern Ireland or the UK by the Government.

Issues

1. How are the rights of the parents upheld?  The Republic of Ireland has since 2005 given status to the parents following the successful campaign which led to the amnesty. 

2. The rights of these children are not being upheld.  We are aware of children removed from the UK despite their being Irish citizens due to their birth in Northern Ireland .  This removal is as part of a family unit which highlights the fact that the rights of these children and their families are denied/unrecognised.

3. The current family removal policy is UK-wide and does not recognise specific regional issues such as that of Irish citizen children of non-national parents and denies parents’ rights to access legal representation prior to being removed out of NI/UK so that their EEA and Article 8 ECHR rights can be considered while still in Northern Ireland .

4. When considering Article 8 ECHR family life applications, the relevant body must carry out a balancing exercise.  We would argue that the rights of the EEA citizen (IBC) should weigh in favour of the non-national parent.

5. Scottish Parliament has entered into positive negotiations with the Foreign Office to try and create a policy which is specific to Scotland .

Goals

1. That the rights of these children as Irish and EEA citizens and the rights of their non-national family members are recognised, respected and enforced.

2. That the family removals policy be amended to do the above.

3. Questions asked in both Parliament and the NI Assembly as to how many and why, Irish citizens by birth are being removed from the UK with their parents who are being denied access to legal representation.

4. Raise issue that children who are often unable to fully understand their rights are being targeted by the UK Government.

5. Raise prospect/advance argument that children born in Northern Ireland should have their rights as EEA citizens recognised.

6. The parents and family of such children should be entitled to remain in Northern Ireland until the child reaches adulthood and have access to employment to ensure they can support the child and contribute to the economy.

Questions

1. How many Irish born children have been removed from Northern Ireland / UK ?

2. Why are Irish citizens, by birth, being removed from the UK ?

3. Why are these children, along with their parents, being denied access to independent legal representation prior to removal

4. What measures are in place to identify Irish Citizen Children of non national parents prior to their removal from Northern Ireland and the UK ?

Enforcement Unit

Background

1. BIA has set up enforcement units across the UK .  The Northern Ireland unit was established within the last two years.

2. It is currently based in Templepatrick but will be permanently based in Belfast .

3. Removals are based on quotas (a feature that would seem to be in conflict with an approach based on the merits of individual cases).

4. Those detained are moved to Scotland/England, breaking the link with family, friends, community and legal advice.

5. The removals are carried out rapidly, denying individuals access to both justice and independent legal advice.

6. Since October 2006 Law Centre (NI) has been pressing PSNI (through the use of Freedom of Information requests) for information regarding statistics on the use of detention suites for immigration detainees. As of 25 June 2007, we have still not received any information.

7. The Home Office have stated that they are targeting vulnerable groups, specifically families, as seen by Law Centre (NI) in a number of cases where the High Court has intervened to order that families be returned.  We believe and are concerned that these families represent only a small number of the total removed as they had access to legal representation.

Issues  

1. The enforcement unit is not openly regulated, therefore we are unaware of any codes of practice or any breaches of such a code.

2. The powers of enforcement unit officials are akin to police powers without oversight.  In effect they can act as a second, internal, police force within the borders of Northern Ireland without the oversight that PSNI, through the body of the Ombudsman is subject to.

3. There are no official criteria for whom the officers can and cannot target, that we are aware of.

4. The powers in the proposed UK Borders Bill, along with existing anti-terror laws, will only extend both the powers and secrecy of the immigration officers.

5. The Scottish executive decided it did not want the detention power for immigration officers as it felt police in Scotland had sufficient powers.

6. The PSNI and Garda Síochána work very closely on cross-border immigration matters which can often lead to specific targeting of nationals of particular non-EEA states.

7. The presence of the enforcement unit and its actions could be responsible for aggravating racial tensions.

Goals

1. Right of access to legal advice and representation for those detained prior to removal out of Northern Ireland to determine any ECHR/EEA applications or any other relevant argument specific to Northern Ireland that could be made.

2. To gain more information both on the operation of the enforcement unit and the numbers detained in its work.

3. To follow the Scottish executive and argue that officials from the Border and Immigration Agency should not have powers of detention in Northern Ireland .

Questions/Statistics

1. How many have been removed out of Northern Ireland ?

2. How many have been detained in Templepatrick and in PSNI custody suites?

3. Give undertaking that those detained will be given a right to legal representation/advice prior to removal out of Northern Ireland for obvious reasons and to avoid the EEA/ECHR rights (particularly again of an Irish born child) being denied.

4. Concerns about quick removals are compounded by the very limited number of legal practitioners operating 24/7 legal advice in this area.

© Law Centre (NI) 2008