英國內政部失誤或令7000外國學生停課離境

The Home Office may have falsely accused as many as 7,000 foreign students of faking their proficiency in English and ordered them to leave the country, with some of them saying they were detained and made homeless as a result.

英國內政部可能錯誤地指控多達7000名外國學生在他們的英語水平上作假，並勒令他們離開英國，其中一些學生表示，此舉導致他們遭到拘留，甚至無家可歸。

A large majority of the students who were accused of cheating have not been allowed to appeal against the Home Office decision, obtain the evidence against them, or meet officials face-to-face so the quality of their English can be assessed.

絕大多數被指作弊的學生不被允許對內政部的這一決定提出上訴、也不被允許獲得證明他們作弊的證據、或由官員對他們的英語水平進行面試評估。

The harsh treatment of the foreign students, who were in the UK legally, showed the extent to which the "hostile environment" policy, introduced by Theresa May, the prime minister, during her time as home secretary had taken root at the department, according to Patrick Lewis, an immigration barrister.

移民律師帕特里克·劉易斯表示，在英國合法居留的外國學生受到當局嚴苛對待，突顯了英國首相特里薩·梅在擔任內政大臣期間推行的“敵意環境”政策在內政部生根發芽的程度。

The approach -- which has also been blamed for the harassment suffered by some members of the Windrush generation of pre-1973 Commonwealth migrants to the UK -- seeks to make life so tough for illegal immigrants that they leave the country of their own accord.

這項政策--也被歸咎於導致1973年以前由英聯邦國家遷往英國的所謂“疾風移民”中的一些人受到騷擾--的本意就是想方設法讓非法移民的日子難過，促使他們自願離英。

In a judgment on the case of one Bangladeshi student, published last year, an immigration tribunal judge said that the Home Office's behaviour was "so unfair and unreasonable as to amount to an abuse of power".

在去年公佈的圍繞一名孟加拉國學生的案件的判決書中，移民審裁庭的一名法官表示，內政部的行爲“如此不公平、不合理，簡直相當於濫用職權”。

"The highly questionable quality of the evidence upon which these accusations have been based and the lack of any effective judicial oversight have given rise to some of the greatest injustices that I have encountered in over 20 years of practice," said Mr Lewis from Garden Court Chambers, who has represented several of the affected claimants and overturned the Home Office's ruling in each case.

“這些指控所依據的證據質量非常可疑，而且沒有任何有效的司法監督，由此帶來了我執業20多年來遇到的一些最嚴重的不公正，”在Garden Court Chambers執業的劉易斯如此說。他曾代表數名受影響的上訴人，在每起案件中都推翻了內政部的裁決。