"Subjecting desperate and traumatised men, women and children to invasive searches including examinations of their clothing and even inside their mouths immediately after they have survived a terrifying Channel crossing is profoundly inhumane. Applying these powers indiscriminately to everyone arriving by small boat risks treating all refugees as a security threat, regardless of evidence, and shows a shocking disregard for the fundamental right to privacy."
"To comply with the legal standards identified by the high court, the use of intrusive searches and data extraction requires independent authorisation and oversight, Mendelsohn said. It is not clear whether the legislation embeds such safeguards."
The Home Office will begin seizing mobile phones and SIM cards from people arriving by small boats at Manston processing centre without requiring an arrest, with on-site technology to download data. Officials will be permitted to search inside detainees' mouths for hidden devices; it is unclear whether children will be searched. The policy aims to deter unauthorised Channel crossings as part of Keir Starmer's effort to counter electoral threat from Nigel Farage's Reform UK. Human-rights groups call the searches invasive and inhumane, and legal advisers warn that independent authorisation and oversight required by a 2022 high court ruling may be lacking.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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