8 hours ago
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Foreign criminals who cannot be deported could be electronically tagged and placed under a night-time curfew by the Home Office, under a new government measure.
Ministers have put forward an amendment to the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill now in the Commons, giving them the right to impose tagging.
The move is understood to be targeted at migrants who have committed a crime or are thought to pose a threat to the public, but cannot be removed to their home country because of human rights laws.
According to Home Office figures, 18,069 foreign offenders were awaiting deportation in September. The government says it has removed 2,925 foreign criminals since the election in July.
It says that represents a 21% increase on the same period 12 months earlier.
Under current laws, conditions such as tagging which people may have been subject to while on immigration bail cannot be imposed once they have been given permission to stay in the UK.
The amendment would change this. Breaching tagging conditions could result in the offender being jailed.
The proposed new powers are similar to terrorism prevention and investigation measures (TPims), which allow the home secretary to impose restrictions on suspected terrorists.
They were introduced by the coalition government in 2011.
Any foreign offender who is handed a prison sentence is considered for deportation. A deportation order must be issued where they have been jailed for 12 months or more.
But some foreign criminals have successfully challenged deportation orders by arguing these would breach the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) by putting the offender's safety at risk.
The Conservatives have said they will try to amend the Border Security Bill to bar migrants from using human rights laws to fight deportation in UK courts.
A government spokesperson said ministers were "committed to delivering justice for victims and safer streets for our communities".
"Any foreign nationals who commit heinous crimes should be in no doubt that we will do everything to make sure they are not free on Britain's streets, including removal from the UK at the earliest possible opportunity.
"For the foreign criminals whose removal we are pursuing, but that we are presently unable to deport, we are introducing tougher restrictions, including the use of electronic tags, night-time curfews and exclusion zones," the spokesperson added.
