Sunday Herald
IMMIGRATION officers who carry out dawn raids on families of failed asylum seekers in Scotland have no legal clearance to undertake work that involves contact with children.
Disclosure certificates, which state whether an individual has criminal convictions, are a legal requirement for anyone whose work involves regular contact with minors and vulnerable adults, and were introduced this year as part of the Children Scotland Act.
However, in a move that will incense critics who are already angered by First Minister Jack McConnell’s powerlessness to stop dawn raids, the Home Office has decided these certificates are not necessary for their officials.
Last night the situation led to accusations that the Home Office was operating illegally in Scotland. Lord Advocate Colin Boyd, the country’s most senior law officer, is also facing demands to investigate whether the UK government is acting outside the law.
Around 10% of operations conducted by immigration officers this year have involved homes in which children have been living. These raids have required officials in squads of up to 15 to enter family homes, including children’s bedrooms, and remove the occupants.
Where necessary, the officers also travel onwards with the children to immigration centres or airports, which can be hundreds of miles away.
Testimonies from children who have been removed from their homes claim that officers have woken them up and separated them from their parents. Some have even talked of occasions where officers have accompanied them into the toilet...
... Rosie Kane, the Scottish Socialist Party MSP for Glasgow, said she was not surprised by the lack of disclosure because “everything that they are doing at the moment is above the law and beyond human rights”.
