These data-sharing arrangements are
typified by secrecy, total disregard for any of the fundamental
principles currently governing data protection, and a wholesale failure
to balance immigration enforcement objectives against people’s
fundamental human rights. There has been no public consultation and
negligible parliamentary scrutiny and data-sharing deals have been
exposed almost entirely by campaigners and journalists using Freedom of
Information requests.
Since 2012, the Home Office has operated with a public commitment to
create a “hostile environment” for undocumented migrants. The
requirement on public servants and private citizens to check people’s
entitlement to services – and the discriminatory impacts felt by those
subjected to the checks – mean its effects have reverberated
beyond its target group to affect all migrants, black, asian and
minority ethnic communities and wider society in Britain.
