The UK Immigration and Asylum Tribunal has ruled in Sanade, Harrison & Walker v Secretary of State for the Home Department that human rights exceptions may be made for the deportation of individuals who "were married to British citizens or who had British children."
The case concerns three joined cases all with similar facts. In each of the three cases, the applicant is married to a British citizen and they each have British citizen children. In each instance, the applicants had committed a criminal offence and faced deportation. The applicants argued that if they were deported, their EU Treaty rights would be infringed. In particular, they argued it would breach Article 20 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and their deportation would "amount to a deprivation of proper enjoyment of the substance of EU citizenship rights of family members."
The Tribunal recognised the declaratory nature of the ruling in Zambrano, a case which bulletin readers may recall. However when the Tribunal previously considered that decision in Dereci the Tribunal held that if the fathers were deported "it would not actually require the spouses or children to leave the UK." Therefore, economic reasons were not sufficient for "maintaining the family unit."
The Tribunal asserted that attention should instead be given to Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights which provides for family and private life. The "best interests of the child" were considered in the Tribunal's application of a "balancing and proportionality assessment" following the decision in ZH Tanzania. The Tribunal emphasised the relevance of thie children's British citizenship when balancing the family's interests against those of the State - particularly where the children had spent a lot of time in the UK.
The Tribunal allowed Sanade's appeal as his deportation would not be "proportionate to the legitimate aim." Walker and Harrison's appeals were dismissed - Walker's deportation was deemed to be in the public interest, and Harrison had committed a serious offence.
Click here to see the Tribunal's decision.
Click here to see piece by Brophy's Immigration Blog on the case.