Home Secretary Theresa May faces heat after her office finds itself accused of wrongly deporting over 48,000 international students after a documentary exposes an English test cheating scam at one school. A BBC Panorama documentary claimed to uncover fraudulence at an East London school where students were sitting for the Test of English for International Communication, in February 2014.
The expose led to an investigation which, Immigration Minister James Brokenshire, in June 2014, said found evidence of 46,000 “invalid and questionable” tests. Following this, May revoked the licenses of 60 educational institutions, and detained international students, all of whom had got the TOEIC certificate in the past. Now, most recently, the Upper Tribunal announced a ruling on March 23, saying the Home Secretary's evidence suffered from “multiple frailties and shortcomings”. President Honourable Mr Justice McCloskey said, “The evidence adduced on behalf of the Secretary of State emerged paled and heavily weakened by the examination to which it was subjected.” He added, “In the sporting world, a verdict of 'no contest' would have been appropriate at this juncture.”
The tribunal also mentioned finding no evidence from any English Testing Service witness. “Almost remarkably, ETS provided no evidence, directly or indirectly, to this tribunal,” said the president, labelling the firms' actions “mildly astonishing”. “The legal burden of proof falling on the Secretary of State has not been discharged, The Appellants are clear winners.” The judgement could lead to the thousands deported students returning to Britain and claiming compensation. Affected by the wrongful action, a member of the Indian Workers' Association said 70 per cent of the affected students were in fact, Indian. “Due to their personal and national humiliation, many left of their own accord, the majority were deported.”
A Home Office Spokesperson said, “The government continues to tackle abuse of our immigration system and protect the reputation of our world class education institutions. The investigation into the abuse of English language testing in 2014 revealed extremely serious, large scale, organised fraud. We are very disappointed by the decision and are awaiting a copy of the full determination to consider next steps including an appeal. It would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.”
