Albanian criminal's deportation halted over son's distaste for chicken nuggets

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Evidence about child's picky eating helps convince immigration tribunal that being forced to leave UK would be unduly harsh

An Albanian criminal was allowed to stay in Britain partly because his son will not eat foreign chicken nuggets, The Telegraph can reveal.

An immigration tribunal ruled that it would be "unduly harsh" for the 10-year-old boy to be forced to move to Albania with his father owing to his sensitivity around food.

The sole example provided to the court was his distaste for the "type of chicken nuggets that are available abroad".

As a result, the judge allowed the father's appeal against deportation as a breach of his right to a family life under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), citing the impact his removal might have on his son.

The case, revealed in court documents, is among a record 34,169 outstanding asylum appeals. The number represents a five-fold increase in two years from the 6,386 appeals outstanding at the same point in 2022.

The legal challenges, largely on human rights grounds, threaten to hold up Labour's efforts to fast-track the removal of thousands of migrants with no right to remain in the UK.

They also risk undermining the Government's efforts to appear tough on immigration in the face of the rise of Reform.

The revelations come as the Government launches a campaign to counter claims that Britain is a soft touch for migrants by announcing the results of a blitz on illegal working.

Data to be published on Monday show there were 609 arrests last month for illegal working, 73 per cent up on January 2024, and a 48 per cent rise in raids from 556 to 828.

The Home Office will also publish pictures and videos of migrants being deported from the UK and forcibly placed on planes.

It comes as both Labour and Tories are trying to head off the electoral threat from Nigel Farage's Reform UK, whose hardline "freeze" on non-essential immigration and turn back the boats plan has helped his party overtake both Tories and Labour and top the latest opinion polls.

Commenting on the chicken nuggets case, Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, said it was "mind-boggling" that food was being used as an argument to prevent deportation.

"It's ludicrous that a judge would entertain it. Cases like this make us a laughing stock.

"It's an insult to the British public that our immigration laws are being abused in such an outrageous way," he said.

Chris Philp, shadow home secretary, said: "This case shows how bogus asylum seekers and foreign criminals are ruthlessly exploiting human rights laws and weak judges to stay in the UK when common sense clearly shows they should be kicked out."

A Home Office spokesman said: "Foreign nationals who commit heinous crimes should be in no doubt that we will do everything to make sure they are not free on Britain's streets, including removal from the UK at the earliest possible opportunity.

"Since the election, we've removed 2,580 foreign criminals, a 23 per cent increase on the same period 12 months prior."

Sir Keir Starmer and his Attorney General have said that they will not withdraw from the ECHR and that the Government is committed to upholding the rule of international law.

Albanian Klevis Disha, 39, came to the UK illegally in February 2001 as a 15-year-old unaccompanied child. He used a false name and falsely claimed to have been born in the former Yugoslavia.

Although his asylum claim was rejected, he secured UK citizenship in 2007 after being granted exceptional leave to remain, and then indefinite leave to remain.

He met his partner, another Albanian who had gained UK citizenship, in 2006, with whom he had two daughters and a son.

However, in September 2017, he was jailed for two years after being caught with £250,000 cash, known to be the proceeds of crime.

Dame Priti Patel, then home secretary, ordered he should be deported to Albania and stripped of his UK citizenship as it had been acquired through deception.

Disha appealed and was backed by a judge at a lower-tier immigration tribunal. The judge ruled that it would be "unduly harsh" for his 10-year-old son -- known only as C -- to remain in the UK and be separated from his father, or to be forced to go with him to Albania.

The case centred on C's "additional" needs, which were supported only by evidence from a trainee educational psychologist for whom, the court noted, no CV had been supplied, as well as evidence from a neighbour and a family friend.

The court was told there was no formal diagnosis of special educational needs for the boy, but he did have an educational plan to deal with his "emotional regulation, independence; reading and writing."

Child has difficulties with socks

Disha's lawyers said that the needs of C, whose first language was Albanian, also included "sensory difficulties" with some clothing, such as socks in particular, and certain types of food which meant he would seize up and "refuse to do anything."

Disha's appeal was granted. However, a judge in the upper tribunal disagreed with the assessment that his additional needs could not be met if he was returned to Albania.

The judge, David Merrigan, said the only example of why the boy could not go to Albania was that he "will not eat the type of chicken nuggets that are available abroad".

"We are not persuaded that the addition of this sole example approaches anywhere near the level of harshness for a reasonable judge to find it to be 'unduly' so," he said.

He remitted the case to be reheard by a different judge in a lower tribunal to decide the "sole issue" of whether the consequences of deportation would be unduly harsh on the 10-year-old boy. The case is ongoing.