The announcement of the UK joining the Eurodac Fingerprint Database was announced in the second week of January by the Minister of State of Immigration, Damian Green. The announcement met with increased backlash.
The decision of joining the database has been protested on the grounds that it violates privacy rights as the data will be shared across the continent with organisations putting asylum seekers in jeopardy. Eurodac fingerprint database is a centralised database that contains details and biometric data of all illegal border crossers and asylum seekers found in the region of the European Union.
Furthermore, last week the announcement that the use of “Reasonable force” will be permitted, in case any channel crossers protest against providing their biometric data. The announcement of joining Eurodac itself was protested but this announcement led to an uproar.
The reason being that 9 years ago, in 2012 due to this same rule, a show of horror and violence was seen between channel crossers and the UK immigration officers. Many asylum seekers burned off or cut-off their own fingers as they at any cost wanted to avoid giving their biometric information. The border force, immigration lawyers, many social organisations have shown their dissatisfaction and discontent with this decision announced by the Home Secretary.
Priti Patel, the Home Secretary has been criticised not only for her decision to use force for obtaining fingerprints of asylum seekers using “Reasonable force” but also for her remarks of calling the ‘Black Lives Matter’ protests of 2020 as dreadful.
The decision, according to the Home Office will help the government to keep a check on the number of asylum seekers and would help them deport anyone who crosses English Channels via unapproved means.
However, even with constant protests by the Border Force and various charities, the Government has decided to pay no heed and the House of Commons is all set to vote on the policy. This decision has sparked fear in other immigrants as well, as many immigration lawyers have informed. The coming week is going to be filled with a lot of debates and discussions over the return of this aggressive policy.
