12.08.25

The government’s plan announced over the last days to introduce legislation that would allow the immediate deportation of migrant people convicted of criminal offences in the UK will cause catastrophic harm. For Black and minoritised migrant women, whose offending is often closely linked to their experiences of human trafficking and violence against women and girls (VAWG), or driven by unmet basic needs in a system that fails to support them, the impact will be devastating. 

Violence against women and girls VAWG, Human Trafficking and trauma 
 

Working with Black and minoritised migrant women in contact with the criminal justice system, we see both the complexity of circumstances that lead to them offending and the significant impact of racial disproportionality. They are overrepresented at every stage of the criminal justice system, sending the clear message that the system is there only to criminalise them, not to protect them.  

Many are victim/survivors of VAWG, and human trafficking have been pushed to offend either through force, coercion or due to social and economic inequality that led them to have unmet needs. Yet law enforcement routinely treats them as offenders, rather than recognising them as potential victim/survivors. This policy will both increase their risk of further exploitation following deportation and deepen their fear of contact with authorities, further empowering exploiters and abusers. 


Victim/survivors of trafficking are frequently misidentified as perpetrators and criminalised rather than being given access to support. This policy is a continuation of the hostile environment, designed to detain, deport and deny migrants vital protection. Fast-tracking deportations will prevent thorough assessments of victim/survivors of trafficking, particularly those who cannot immediately convey their trauma or histories of coercion, or who feel unsafe doing so. 

The violence and harm of deportation 

Deportation is a violent act. It inflicts significant psychological trauma, both for the person being deported and for those around them, as their lives are abruptly uprooted. Our service users at risk of deportation through insecure immigration status have described the fear, depression and anxiety that even the prospect of deportation brings. 

Forced returns can retraumatise victim/survivors by replicating the fear, loss of control and instability they have already endured as victim/survivors of violence and exploitation. Abrupt removal from safety, support networks and health care can trigger severe psychological distress that exacerbates existing trauma. For those who are victim/survivors of abuse and exploitation, the impact is particularly acute. For those receiving medical treatment, whether for physical or psychological mental health conditions, deportation also disrupts care, with no guarantee that adequate treatment may not be accessible in their country of origin. 

Migrant women in the UK often build essential support and social networks, with others relying on them in turn. For those who have experienced trauma, exploitation, or other vulnerabilities, these networks can include access to specialist services such as Hibiscus. Deportation severs these connections, leaving women’s emotional and practical needs unmet. This, in turn, can leave women highly vulnerable to exploitation: many are returned to their country of origin destitute, without accommodation, and without family or friends to offer support. Without alternatives, they may be driven into the hands of traffickers. This is particularly the case for those who have been trafficked before and are returned to the very places from which they were taken. 

Immediate deportation following a conviction also significantly limits the possibility of obtaining legal advice. This will be particularly the case for those who face barriers, such as communication barriers. Many of those subjected to deportation under this policy would have valid appeals, including those for whom deportation would expose them to significant harm or breach their human rights. Denying them the time and means to seek legal advice is a denial of justice. 

Conclusion 

Rather than prioritising justice or the protection of vulnerable victim/survivors, this policy reinforces a ‘tough on immigration’ stance that achieves neither. It instead dehumanises migrants and fuels fear. The ongoing emphasis on prison as the primary solution to offending has led to the capacity crisis: the government must address this directly, not fall back on scapegoating migrants, punishing them more harshly and conflating immigration with criminality. 

Migrant people convicted of criminal offences should be supported to move away from offending and protected from the factors that led them there. They deserve understanding and compassion. The threat that they will instead be ‘sent packing’ shows neither. 

Responding to the announcements, Dr. Baljit Banga, CEO of Hibiscus, said:

“Framing migrant people as a threat and posing their deportations as the solution to the problem of prison overcrowding will exacerbate racism, deepening the racial disparity we already see in the criminal justice system. For migrant women, it will expose them to social and institutional misogyny. We need a rights-based, justice-led approach that supports migrants based on a deep understanding of the reasons why migration occurs. We are connected geopolitically, and reactionary solutions do very little to address the human consequences of war, violence, persecution and other insecurities that force people to flee their communities. We are well aware of the tendency to criminalise Black and minoritised people more broadly and migrants from the Global South. Denying people’s human rights is never a solution. We must centre the safety of Black and minoritised migrant women and resist the call for harsher borders and punitive regimes.”

ENDS 

For more information, please contact: elizabeth@hibiscus.org.uk