Is Asylum Seeking Criminalized In Uk ?

Project Proposal

. Police, Procedures and investigation

Your general field of interest.

I am going to do a research on immigration and its impact on national security. I have a good cultural knowledge as I served in an international church as a minister and ministered to the Iranian, Afghan and Tajik and British communities. I have extensive knowledge and awareness of these countries and communities and the wider Middle East. Recently we have seen increase in asylum cases form Iranian nationals who claims that their life is at risk in Iran because they have converted to Christianity. The majority of them become active church member as soon as they submit their asylum application to home office and the minority of them carrying on coming to the church after they have been granted refugee status by home office.

I have spoken to many asylum seekers and they have classified themselves as economic asylum seekers and move to the UK for better life and income. However, they claim religious asylum in order to be granted leave to remain in UK.
In 2018-2019 there is a massive increase in asylum applications to the United Kingdom from Iranian nationals, up 1,393 (56%) to 3,876. (gov.uk)
There are number Iranian refugees whom travel back to Iran for family visit or holiday. They also obtain a refugee travel document from home office which allows them to travel outside the UK, but they are not allowed to travel to country of origin. You can apply for a travel document to travel outside the UK if you’re not British and cannot use or get a passport from your country. (gov.uk)
In order to travel to Iran as an Iranian national you must obtain an Iranian passport from an Iranian embassy in London. My question is, how can you get to Iranian embassy and get an Iranian passport without any concern for your own safety?

The particular topic/question.

The question is “why are they traveling back to the country that they had to run away from? Also how come they are not being persecuted by Iranian authority? Are they actually a true asylum seeker?
I am going to object government on if they are doing relevant vetting on asylum seekers. I will be interviewing some refugees, in order to establish the real reason, they moved to the UK and why would they take the risk to travel back to their home country.
Border force officer must interview and question every individual who is entering the UK. Do they have access relevant tools and system in order to find out if the person of interest has hold or obtain his country of origin passport? How vulnerable is our national security if anyone can lie and obtain refugee status in United Kingdom? If their life is not at risk and they can freely travel to country of origin, what else they’re hiding from the government? These people will not travel directly to their home country and fly to a third country like Turkey or Armenia (with their refugee travel document) then they use their passport to catch the second flight to their main destination. This is a hole in system, and they can use this.
I will try to contact Home office to find out what will happen if border force or immigration enforcement come across this issue. Do they have enough manpower or budget to investigate such cases?
Can anyone come to the UK with a good cover story and obtain refugee status? This could be a perfect method for foreign governments or terrorist groups to send their members to westerns countries. There is a possibility that traveller to middle eastern countries get recruited by authority or terrorist groups.
Furthermore, I am going to interview some church ministers in London, Manchester and Liverpool who spend a lot of time to immigrants that are coming from middle east region.
Terrorist groups like IRGC (Islamic revolutionary guard corps) or IS can send their recruits to western countries as a refugee and they can obtain the nationality of the country and become a useful source and member. Law enforcement agencies cannot do a background checks on foreign nationals. They may be able to identify known suspects through different intelligence sources however, it’s hard to verify refugee’s identity. Especially countries from conflict area such as Syria, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan. These countries are known as base of terrorism and radical Muslims.
I will be looking into role of human smugglers. How can they help these people to get to westerns countries? Are they all just after their own financial ego? How border force and NCA can tackle organised immigration crimes in order to protect the borders and stop any potential risks to national securities.

How you intend to do this (i.e. what is your methodology?

I have already start reading books related to this topic and going to obtain face to face interview refugees who have been granted refugee status by home office and are converted Christians. I will try to establish the reason of their migrations; how easy it was to get to the UK and how easy it was to get hold of a human smuggler.
I will also study reports and statics from government and try to find a link to the reason behind increase of migration from certain 3rd world countries.
Furthermore, I am going to attend International Security Expo 2019 event in London and will have the chance to interview law enforcement officers. I will find out what technique and method they use to tackle organised crimes and how they protect the borders.
I wouldn’t just rely on basic surveys or close questioning. I think can gather more intelligent by asking open questions. This will helping to have better understanding of the topic and also will help me to see the bigger picture.
I will try to interview church ministers in UK. They will help to understand the converted community. I can get better understanding of why their retention level is so low and why people leave the church after they have been granted refugee status.

Consideration of issues relating to access and ethics.

I will get my supervisor’s approval before I interview any participant for this research. C confidentiality is important, and my participant may wish to stay anonymous; however, I will ask them to sign a consent form. They must know the purpose of my research. I will ensure them how and where I’m going to use the information provided by them.
I will not be interviewing under 18 years old and will make sure that I will follow the roles and regulation on dealing with vulnerable people which will help to recognise potential vulnerable people. In this research I can potentially come across victim of modern slavery or even victim of torture. I will consider myself and other’s safety by doing risk assessments and also run through my plans with my allocated supervisor.

I have had to review the London metropolitan university’s research ethic form. This gave me better understanding of how to do my risk assessments before obtaining any interviews.

I will make sure that I have enough library resources as my contingency plan. This can be alternative source in case of cancelation from any of my participants or if my supervisor rejects my requests.

If at any time I come across any ongoing criminal activity, I will inform my supervisors and relevant law enforcement agencies.

In order to obtain some reports and static I need to rely on Gov.uk website. Alternatively, I will request relevant information from government by making a FOI request. This is means that I need to have a good knowledge of data protection act.
This could be a time-consuming process, so I have to make I stick my time line as much as possible.

Relevant authors/studies.

There are some academic text books and journals which I have found so far which are:
Refugee law’s fact-finding crisis: truth, risk, and the wrong mistake / Hilary Evans Cameron.
Borders, Asylum and Global Non-Citizenship: The Other Side of the Fence / Heather L. Johnson
Global Surveillance and Policing: Borders, Security, Identity

Timeline.

I will spend around 1 month to read my academic resources and take relevant notes. I am planning to attend to attend International Security Expo 2019 on December. I already hold a valid security clearance through my day job, this will save a lot of time in order to obtain a visitor pass.
I am planning to do my interviews from second week of January. I have to speak to different people in order to arrange a time and place. Most of my communications will be via the Email and phone call. However, all my interviews going to be face to face.

I will submit my FOI application form to home office as soon as I get the approval from my supervisor. I need to know how many Iranian nationals has been issued refugee travel document (2018-2019). My contingency plan for this is to do a survey and asking 10 people the same questions. This will be my plan B in the case of that HO refused my FOI application or they couldn’t meet my deadline.

My research involves other people input as well. I need to make sure that I have a good communication with other stakeholders and always have contingency in place in order to avoid any disappointments. I will do reminder emails and telephone call.

I am planning to finalise my interviews and reading by middle of February so I can show them to my supervisor. This will give me enough time to identify any issue or deal with any unpredicted issues.
I am going to start typing my project from February 2020.

Reference

https://www.gov.uk/apply-home-office-travel-document

Pearce, J. and Stockdale, J. (2009). UK responses to the asylum issue: A comparison of lay and expert views. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 19(2), pp.142-155.

Cameron, H. E. (2018) “Refugee Law’s Fact-Finding Crisis,” in Refugee Law’s Fact-Finding Crisis: Truth, Risk, and the Wrong Mistake. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. i-ii.

Johnson, H. (2014). Borders, asylum and global non-citizenship. 1st ed. Cambridge: Clays, St Ives plc.

Zureik, E, & Salter, M (eds) 2013, Global Surveillance and Policing : Borders, Security, Identity, Taylor & Francis Group, Uffculme. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [11 November 2019].

https://www.internationalsecurityexpo.com