How Privacy and Data Protection Law Can Help Defend Migrants’ Rights

This long-read resource, published in February 2022 by Privacy International in collaboration with Garden Court Chambers, examines how privacy and data protection law can be deployed to defend migrants against abusive data practices in UK immigration enforcement. It covers four main areas: the data-gathering ambitions of the UK Border Strategy 2025 (including biometric data collection, algorithmic risk assessments, and automated data sharing); a super-complaint and judicial review brought by Liberty and Southall Black Sisters challenging police sharing of victim and witness data with the Home Office; litigation over the mass seizure and extraction of data from migrants' mobile phones on arrival; and the use of Freedom of Information Act requests as an investigative tool. The resource is aimed at immigration law practitioners and civil society organisations, and draws on real cases and legal grounds including Articles 2, 3, 8, and 14 of the ECHR, the Data Protection Act 2018, and the Police Reform Act. A notable caveat is that several of the legal challenges discussed remain unresolved at the time of publication.