An eight-month-old baby despite being a British citizen was locked up by the Home Office in an immigration detention for 12 days after an asylum application by his mother was rejected.
The details of the case reveal that the Home Office successfully won an appeal against a ruling that the baby and his mother, a Nigerian national, had been falsely imprisoned on the grounds that the burden of proof rested on the boy to prove his citizenship.
The mother TR and her son, named as JA,, were held in immigration detention for 12 days after an asylum application by TR was rejected.
The Immigration Advisory Service (IAS) wrote to the Home Office saying that JA was a British citizen because of his father and, they were trying to prove this by updating his birth certificate.
It was submitted that, as a British citizen, JA could not be removed and TR should be permitted to remain in the UK to care for him. The Home Office rejected the representations and detained mother and son.
Ultimately, the high court granted a stay of removal and TR and JA were released. A month later, JA’s British father was added to his birth certificate.
