A migrant couple has been allowed to live in the UK at taxpayers’ expense after claiming that opposing El Salvador gangs would prevent the unmarried duo from continuing their relationship.
The man was forced to flee after being threatened by the local gang in the town where his girlfriend lived.
He was granted asylum in the UK because of the risk of persecution in El Salvador if he returned.
The man's girlfriend travelled to Britain and was allowed to stay after claiming that her deportation would breach her Article 8 rights to a family life under the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR).
An immigration tribunal ruled that the couple’s wishes to remain together in Britain outweighed the “public interest in immigration control”.
The pair are not allowed to work in the UK and do not speak English.
Asylum seekers are entitled to £49.18 a week as well as accommodation.
The decision comes after several other illegal migrants were recently allowed to stay in the UK after using human rights laws to stop their deportations.
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An Albanian criminal avoided deportation after claiming his son did not like foreign chicken nuggets, and a Pakistani paedophile was allowed to stay in the UK after it was said his deportation would be “unduly harsh” on his children.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “Gang violence in El Salvador has been very substantially reduced recently, and extending to someone’s girlfriend’s – who the man is not even married to – family rights is a step too far.
“Family rights were designed to stop families and children being broken up in war, not as an immigration back door. This is another case which shows why fundamental reform of human rights law is needed.”
After their initial asylum claim was rejected by the Home Office following their arrival in 2020, the couple appealed and the man won the right to asylum.
The woman’s claim was rejected, a decision which she then appealed, however her ECHR claim was backed by a first-tier tribunal.
The upper tribunal heard that the man had lived in Comasagua in El Salvador, an area controlled by the Barrio-18 gang.
His girlfriend lived in San Marcos, and he was threatened several times by the MS-13 gang and told if he returned, he would face the same fate as his cousin who “disappeared”.
The judges accepted that he was at “real risk of persecution” if he returned to El Salvador, entitling him to protection under the Refugee Convention.
They said: “The alternative, for fear of harm, is to remain out of sight and/or to cease visiting one another. Neither is an acceptable state of affairs. It is regrettable that international protection may be required in such circumstances.”
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The man was forced to flee after being threatened by the local gang in the town where his girlfriend lived.
He was granted asylum in the UK because of the risk of persecution in El Salvador if he returned.
The man's girlfriend travelled to Britain and was allowed to stay after claiming that her deportation would breach her Article 8 rights to a family life under the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR).
An immigration tribunal ruled that the couple’s wishes to remain together in Britain outweighed the “public interest in immigration control”.
The pair are not allowed to work in the UK and do not speak English.
Asylum seekers are entitled to £49.18 a week as well as accommodation.
The decision comes after several other illegal migrants were recently allowed to stay in the UK after using human rights laws to stop their deportations.
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An Albanian criminal avoided deportation after claiming his son did not like foreign chicken nuggets, and a Pakistani paedophile was allowed to stay in the UK after it was said his deportation would be “unduly harsh” on his children.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “Gang violence in El Salvador has been very substantially reduced recently, and extending to someone’s girlfriend’s – who the man is not even married to – family rights is a step too far.
“Family rights were designed to stop families and children being broken up in war, not as an immigration back door. This is another case which shows why fundamental reform of human rights law is needed.”
After their initial asylum claim was rejected by the Home Office following their arrival in 2020, the couple appealed and the man won the right to asylum.
The woman’s claim was rejected, a decision which she then appealed, however her ECHR claim was backed by a first-tier tribunal.
The upper tribunal heard that the man had lived in Comasagua in El Salvador, an area controlled by the Barrio-18 gang.
His girlfriend lived in San Marcos, and he was threatened several times by the MS-13 gang and told if he returned, he would face the same fate as his cousin who “disappeared”.
The judges accepted that he was at “real risk of persecution” if he returned to El Salvador, entitling him to protection under the Refugee Convention.
They said: “The alternative, for fear of harm, is to remain out of sight and/or to cease visiting one another. Neither is an acceptable state of affairs. It is regrettable that international protection may be required in such circumstances.”
Find Out More...