The Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA) is extremely concerned that, once again, senior politicians and media outlets appear to be fostering a climate of hostility towards immigration practitioners and judges. Last August, we saw the clear culmination of racist, xenophobic, and Islamophobic rhetoric and sentiment culminate in violence, disorder, and riots across the UK, including the far-right targeting migrants and those who represent them.
An independent legal profession and an independent judiciary are fundamental to our democracy, including through providing access to justice to some of the most marginalised people in our society and upholding human rights and fundamental freedoms. Furthermore, as the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers state: “Lawyers shall not be identified with their clients or their clients’ causes as a result of discharging their functions.”
Nevertheless, in recent months, there have been instances of immigration practitioners and judges being singled out, with their personal and familial details shared in the press and on social media, and their prior exercises of freedom of expression excavated to impugn them. It is not the targeted practitioners and judges who undermine trust and confidence in the justice system; rather, it is the smear campaigns, which seek to politicise judicial appointments and decisions and to discipline legal professionals through public embarrassment instead of regulatory investigation and action.
ILPA strongly condemns the exertion of any external pressure that would compromise the independence of the legal professions and the judiciary. We continue to urge the Government to do its utmost to create conditions in which immigration lawyers and judges are supported and enabled to freely perform their duties, without intimidation, hindrance, harassment, or improper interference; their independence is defended and upheld; and they are safeguarded by authorities if their security is threatened as a result of carrying out their essential functions.
We would encourage the Government to lead by example, to ensure its rhetoric and policy aligns with international law and respects the human dignity of migrants and those who represent them, to end the politicisation of the judicial process, and to challenge judicial decisions in courtrooms rather than public arenas, adding no further fuel to the already heated public debate on migration.
- For more information on the role of lawyers, see the UN Basic Principles.
- For more information on safeguarding the independence of judicial systems, see the recent report of the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers
- For information on the duties of the Lord Chancellor and other Ministers of the Crown to uphold judicial independence, see section 3 of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005.
- For a reminder of ILPA’s prior statements on this topic, see ILPA’s statement following the recent anti-migrant riots in August 2024 and ILPA’s statement on the safety and protection of immigration practitioners in August 2023.