A 28-year-old British-born man, Dmitry Lima, who has never left the UK, is confronting the distressing prospect of deportation to Portugal. The Home Office issued a deportation order following Lima’s imprisonment for drug offenses and carrying a Taser, offences for which he served a sentence of over two years. Despite being born in Lambeth, south London, and having no prior convictions, Lima is now grappling with the consequences of a post-Brexit policy targeting EU nationals convicted of crimes.
Under the revised regulations introduced after Brexit, the deportation of EU nationals, similar to other nationalities, is considered “conducive to the public good and in the public interest” if the individual receives a prison sentence exceeding 12 months. Previously, the threshold for deportation was set at “serious grounds of public policy and public security,” with a higher bar for those continuously residing in the UK.
Lima, born to parents who arrived in the UK over 30 years ago, argues against his deportation on the grounds of his British citizenship, asserting that his mother and father were settled in the UK. In his appeal, he emphasizes the devastation he would face in losing the life he has built in the UK, a place he considers his home.
Convicted in August 2020 on two counts of possession with intent to supply a class A drug and possession of a prohibited weapon, Lima served just over two years of a four years and six months sentence. The deportation order was served in October 2022, following his transfer from prison to Brook House immigration removal centre at Gatwick airport.
In a personal statement included in his appeal, Lima acknowledges his wrongdoing, expressing a commitment to restart his life after prison. He laments the uncertainty and emotional distress caused by the deportation order, highlighting its impact on his mental and financial well-being.
The government’s move to introduce the British nationality (regularization of past practice) bill in May 2023 aims to address situations like Lima’s, where individuals could be treated as British if their parents, utilizing the EU right to free movement, arrived in the UK before 2000. However, the bill is yet to be enacted.
Lima’s lawyer, Naga Kandiah, reveals the Home Office’s lack of records on Lima’s residence in the UK, emphasizing that Lima’s continuous residence from birth, due to his parents’ exercise of EU treaty rights, entitles him to British citizenship. Kandiah criticizes the Home Office’s unpreparedness and notes the wastage of taxpayers’ money in multiple court hearings.
In response to the situation, a Home Office spokesperson stated, “It is longstanding government policy that we do not routinely comment on individual cases.”
