Sonia L
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sonial77.bsky.social
Sonia L
@sonial77.bsky.social
2.1K followers 150 following 860 posts
Human rights lawyer. Migrant. Queer. Raspberry farmer. Personal account, obvs. She/her
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sonial77.bsky.social
It is good to see that that some people a) actually have values/principles and b) do not abandon those when entering Parliament
His interventions were particularly unwelcome to the government because they came from a uniquely well-informed source: an MP representing a constituency at the frontline of the immigration debate, who, prior to his election in 2024, worked as an immigration barrister at the same chambers where Keir Starmer once practised. Vaughan has represented refugees and asylum seekers, and victims of human trafficking at the supreme court, and was appointed as a KC earlier this year.
November 22, 2025 at 1:59 PM
sonial77.bsky.social
Pleased to confirm that normal service has resumed and we are no longer "a campaign organisation advocating open borders", as exciting as that makes me sound...
and the publication she wrote for is a legal resource for immigration lawyers, not a campaign organisation advocating open borders. We are happy to correct the record.
November 21, 2025 at 3:32 PM
sonial77.bsky.social
And this in the FT: www.ft.com/content/9b91...

Honestly amazed I managed to be coherent about anything yesterday
There was particular controversy on Thursday over the potential disparity between the treatment of working spouses and non-working partners under the proposals. The planned rules make spouse’s applications separate and stipulate that all applicants for settlement must earn at least £12,570 a year. The proposal raises the possibility that a high-earning spouse might receive settlement in three years while their stay-at-home partner might never be eligible. Sonia Lenegan, a leading immigration lawyer, said: “It looks like there’s no exemption for stay-at-home parents.” A Home Office official indicated that aspect of the proposals would be subject to consultation, meaning it could change in future.
November 21, 2025 at 1:12 PM
sonial77.bsky.social
Just got a google alert for this from yesterday's Guardian politics live blog (my full piece is here: freemovement.org.uk/home-secreta...)
Andrew Sparrow Sonia Lenegan has posted a good analysis of the earned settlement plans at Free Movement, a blog covering immigration law. This is her conclusion. The paper is fairly explicit that the target here is the number of people on health and care visas. So it is low earners and our carers who the government is proposing to force into additional expensive applications and a longer period of instability before they are able settle, contrary to the rules under which they made the decision to uproot their lives and move to the UK. I am aware that there is a view that people who are already here but have not yet reached the point where they are eligible for settlement are fair game, and some will argue that their inclusion means these changes are not retrospective. But I think that it is important to remember that many if not most of these people will have had a choice about where to move. They chose the UK, based on rules which would allow them to settle after five years. Changing those rules on them now is simply unfair and transitional arrangements are essential.
November 21, 2025 at 1:08 PM
sonial77.bsky.social
This q was asked but not explicitly answered in the Lords. However yesterday's consultation refers to a "starting point" of 20 years for refugees which indicates the proposals apply to them. The matter of this applying to people already here is a consultation q

hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2025-1...
November 21, 2025 at 9:30 AM
sonial77.bsky.social
Court of Appeal definitively rejects government's "compliant environment" term in favour of "hostile environment"

(from RAMFEL judgment)
That was the label given to the regime by the Secretary of State when it was first introduced. There has latterly been a preference for the description “compliant environment”, and Cavanagh J uses that term in his judgment. I will continue to use the original label, mainly because “compliant environment” is bad English: it is migrants, not the environment itself, who it is intended should be “compliant”. But I also think that it gives a franker description of the purpose of the regime, which is, perfectly properly, to make life difficult for people who are in the UK illegally.
November 20, 2025 at 8:39 AM
sonial77.bsky.social
Because we haven't heard enough from her this week... Statement from the Home Sec today, expected around 11.30am
What’s the big idea: Having sought to tackle small boats with plans to overhaul the asylum system on Monday, Mahmood will turn to measures aimed at curbing authorized migration. Home Office officials were under strict instruction not to trail her appearance today … but she’s expected to unveil more details of plans (first announced by her predecessor) to double the time it’ll typically take migrants to qualify for indefinite leave to remain, from five to 10 years. Oh hi there: Migration watchers reckon the idea is to prevent the spike of new arrivals under the “Boris wave” from soon being on a path to settlement, and then potentially citizenship. The expectation is that various measures to make it either easier or harder to obtain ILR will be unveiled too — largely based on migrants’ financial situation. Many tier Keir: Home Office whisperers Matt Dathan and Charles Hymas reckon a decade wait will be made a baseline that could be reduced by earning big bucks, working in a highly skilled industry, or by volunteering in the community. But the wait for security would only get longer for those deemed not to be contributing enough or who have committed crimes.
November 20, 2025 at 7:53 AM
sonial77.bsky.social
The i Paper is reporting that once the changes are brought in, the 20 year route will be applied to refugees who are already here.

I can't over emphasise the level of terror this will cause to our refugee population, and the lack of detail and timescale will make it very difficult to calm nerves.
Headline: "Home Office to deport refugees already granted asylum in the UK" Quote copied from the article (which is paywalled): "Under the new rules, if a refugee is already in the country and has been granted five years of leave to stay, the Home Office will not shorten their current leave. However, at the end of the five years, the government will review if their country is safe, and return the migrant if it is. If their country is not deemed safe, the migrant will not receive automatic lifetime settlement but will move to the Home Office’s new model. They will get 30 months more leave to remain before their next review, with lifetime settlement only available 20 years after their arrival."
November 19, 2025 at 8:06 AM
sonial77.bsky.social
So we should be seeing this thing at 2pm.

Probably didn't need to write the newsletter yesterday then!
Your need to knows: Mahmood will rise for a lengthy statement and Q&A in the Commons at 3.30 p.m., or later depending on any UQs. The 33-page policy blueprint (titled “Restoring Order and Control”) will land 90 minutes before she speaks. Senior hacks will get more briefing from officials on the details afterward while Mahmood will sit for interviews with the pol eds. Her junior Alex Norris has the morning broadcast round.
November 17, 2025 at 7:49 AM
sonial77.bsky.social
Meaning possibly not next year? *hopeful face*

Imagine it - one year without some new primary legislation on asylum and immigration. No. I can't. I won't.
Long and winding road: An asylum and immigration bill will be introduced at some point, possibly as soon as next year, but Migration Minister Mike Tapp couldn’t say how quickly the law would be passed. He admitted to Times Radio’s Adam Boulton that “the democratic system can be sluggish,” but the U.K. couldn’t be “held hostage by smuggling gangs” who may encourage people to arrive before the new rules kick in.
November 16, 2025 at 2:36 PM
sonial77.bsky.social
BRITISH CITIZENS ARE ALLOWED TO WORK. PEOPLE WAITING FOR AN ASYLUM DECISION ARE BANNED FROM WORKING*. THESE THINGS ARE NOT THE SAME.
Prepare for the worst: Mahmood struggled to clarify to the Beeb where those asylum seekers would live: “My expectation is that people will comply with the rules and … if they can work, that they will work and support themselves.” She said it was unfair for them to have no conditions, given that “British citizens who have conditional access to benefits or conditional access to social housing” must comply with the rules.
November 16, 2025 at 2:33 PM
sonial77.bsky.social
Row of empty non-EU registration terminals at Madrid airport, all with red lights
November 16, 2025 at 10:21 AM
sonial77.bsky.social
Let them work then!! What even is this nonsense?? (at least the Guardian properly pointed out that this will do basically nothing given they are banned from working)
‘We want them to work’ Housing and weekly allowances will be removed from those who have a right to work and can support themselves but choose not to. Those who break the law will also face having their support withdrawn.
November 16, 2025 at 8:01 AM
sonial77.bsky.social
I have written about this case a few times, including here freemovement.org.uk/palestinian-...

I think the Home Sec's appeal in that case is/was happening in Nov
This is the same family whose immigration appeal has been misunderstood by both the press and politicians for several months now, after everyone seems to have made the mistake of failing to properly understand or interrogate assertions made by the leader of the opposition about the use of an application form which was in line with the Home Office’s own processes. With a simple “that is the process as insisted upon by the Home Office” from the Prime Minister, this family may already have made it to the UK instead of being turned into a political football, while they try to stay alive long enough to get here.
November 14, 2025 at 7:39 AM
sonial77.bsky.social
This is not a clever man. You cannot "deport" people who are not in the UK, and the Home Office's own process are what required use of the Ukrainian scheme in these circumstances (leave outside the rules application).
We have revealed multiple cases where illegal migrants have invoked the ECHR to avoid deportation, including an Albanian criminal who was allowed to stay in Britain partly because his son would not eat foreign chicken nuggets, and a Palestinian family permitted to come to the UK under a refugee scheme for Ukrainians.
November 14, 2025 at 7:36 AM
sonial77.bsky.social
Petty, but showing
SCOOP — irregular transmission: Playbook hears that Home Office civil servants have been told to cut out use of the term “irregular” migration in favor of “illegal migration.” The government — and the one before it — had been using both terms at various times, but mandarins told Playbook that the current operation is effectively trying to ban “irregular.” The terms basically mean the same thing … but irregular is preferred by refugee charities and the like as a less “dehumanizing” term. As Mahmood tries to project a hardline image on migration, “illegal” will be the term of choice for the Home Office going forward.
November 14, 2025 at 7:23 AM
sonial77.bsky.social
The UK/France deal is as much of a deterrent as expected
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT DOES NOT WANT TO TALK ABOUT: A second small boat migrant deported under the one-in-one-out deal with France returned across the Channel. Downing Street said the individual was picked up via immediate biometric testing and will be deported again tout suite. GB News got the scoop. The Tories said the Channel is “now a revolving door for illegal immigration.”
November 10, 2025 at 8:07 PM
sonial77.bsky.social
“These cases are damaging the reputation of the bar,” said Stephen Gillers, an ethics professor at New York University School of Law. “Lawyers everywhere should be ashamed of what members of their profession are doing.”

archive.ph/KpGhy
Vigilante Lawyers Expose the Rising Tide of A.I. Slop in Court Filings More lawyers are using artificial intelligence to write legal briefs. Some colleagues are publicizing the A.I.-generated errors.
November 8, 2025 at 10:38 AM
sonial77.bsky.social
"Shabana Mahmood will model some of her new measures on the Danish system"
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Refugees who live in housing estates designated as "parallel societies" - that is where more than 50% of residents are from what the Danish government considers to be "non-Western" backgrounds - will not be eligible for family reunion at all.
November 8, 2025 at 9:59 AM
sonial77.bsky.social
Would be interesting to know how this compares with other depts
The Home Office has 205 Employment Tribunal claims in the last 5 years (01/10/2021 to 30/09/2025), however, to determine those which relate to unfair dismissals and/or the Equality Act 2010 can only be obtained via disproportionate cost.
November 7, 2025 at 1:58 PM
sonial77.bsky.social
Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 72Serious criminal (1)This section applies for the purpose of the construction and application of Article 33(2) of the Refugee Convention (exclusion from prohibition of expulsion or return). (2)A person is convicted by a final judgment of a particularly serious crime... if he is— (a)convicted in the United Kingdom of an offence, and (b)sentenced to a period of imprisonment of at least 12 months. Immigration rules setting out when asylum can be refused Danger to the United Kingdom 339AC. This paragraph applies where the Secretary of State is satisfied that: Article 33(2) of the Refugee Convention applies in that: (i) there are reasonable grounds for regarding the person as a danger to the security of the United Kingdom; or (ii) having been convicted by a final judgment of a particularly serious crime, the person constitutes a danger to the community of the United Kingdom (see section 72 of the Nationality Immigration and Asylum Act 2002).
November 6, 2025 at 8:38 AM
sonial77.bsky.social
Not sure this one really needed a whistleblower...
Also seems non-ideal: The Telegraph’s Charles Hymas hears from a Home Office whistleblower who claims the department can still approve claims from asylum-seekers charged with crimes, as long as their offense does not merit a prison sentence of 12 months or more.
November 6, 2025 at 8:38 AM
sonial77.bsky.social
Same concerns with lawyers using AI
Guest, van Rooij and colleagues list a vast number of problematic aspects of AI technology in their paper. These range from the environmental issues (using vast amounts of energy and resources), illegal labor practices (such as plagiarism and theft of others’ writing), to risks of deskilling of students. Guest: ‘The uncritical adoption of AI can lead to students not developing essential academic skills such as critical thinking and writing. If students are taught to learn through automation, without learning about how and why things work, they won’t be able to solve problems when something actually breaks – which will be often, based on the AI output we now see.’
November 2, 2025 at 10:02 AM
sonial77.bsky.social
The Home Office’s own communication with members of the public highlights what appear to be significant caveats. “Any travel history provided should be interpreted as an intention to travel and not as proof of travel. The carrier should be approached directly if the information is required for an official process,” it said in a document sent to a passenger who requested to see their Home Office records, through a “subject access request”.
November 1, 2025 at 11:25 AM
sonial77.bsky.social
For anyone else wondering what is going on procedurally - it is a Private Members' Bill (Presentation Bill) awaiting second reading: bills.parliament.uk/bills/3970

Explainer from Hansard Society: www.hansardsociety.org.uk/publications...
Once a Presentation Bill is introduced, the MP introducing it names a day for its Second Reading. Since it is a Private Members' Bill, Presentation Bills can only complete their stages during Friday sittings. However, because they cannot be introduced until all 20 Ballot Bills are introduced, they usually fall lower down on the Order Paper than the Ballot Bills, making it harder for Presentation Bills to make progress through their Commons stages.
October 22, 2025 at 8:05 AM