It’s a story we’re all tired of hearing: a dangerous criminal frustrates deportation on human rights grounds. In one case, the criminal in question — a convicted drug dealer — claimed that his right to family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) meant he shouldn’t be deported.
This was a man who had been convicted of battery against his partner. He paid no maintenance towards his child. But, still, he claimed his right to family life to frustrate a deportation order. This is the kind of case that gives human rights a bad name — and undermines public trust.
It’s not a one-off. To give you a sense of the scale of this particular problem, as a result of