Wilson Solicitors provided evidence in Privacy International’s data protection complaint

Wilson Solicitors provided evidence and supporting information in Privacy International’s data protection complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office relating to the Home Office’s use of two algorithms in its immigration enforcement operations.

The algorithmic tools are known as the Identify and Prioritise Immigration Cases (IPIC) and Electronic Monitoring Review Tool (EMRT). IPIC provides automated recommendations that among other things inform whether an individual without immigration status is detained, removed from the UK, offered voluntary return and referred to other governments who may then take action to restrict their access to services and benefits. It also uses automated filters, such as nationality, which could be used to select individuals for largescale enforcement operation, such as deportation charter flights.

The EMRT is used to assist in the context of quarterly Electronic Monitoring (EM) reviews carried out by the Home Office to decide if GPS tracking remains appropriate as an immigration bail condition. It does so by first generating an automated harm score which is used to set the minimum period an individual will remain subject to an ankle tag after which they may be ‘transitioned’ to a non-fitted device. Secondly, it generates automated recommendations as regards whether an individual should remain subject to an ankle tag or be transitioned to an NFD.

These tools are therefore being used in potentially thousands of cases, and it is likely that many of our clients have been subject to algorithmic decision-making without their knowledge. This is despite the fact that the algorithms pull data from across the immigration system, including potentially sensitive information such as locational data and information about individuals’ health and vulnerabilities.

Wilson’s evidence demonstrated that the EMRT has continued to be used by the Home Office notwithstanding assertions in correspondence under the Freedom of Information Act that it had been discontinued.  

Privacy International’s complaint alleges that numerous core principles of the UK GDPR are violated through use of the tools. This includes the requirements of lawfulness, transparency and fairness as well as the prohibition on solely automated decision-making. For example, the EMRT’s harm score does not appear to incorporate meaningful human review when determining the minimum period on which a tag wearer will remain subject to Electronic Monitoring. The complaint could therefore set wider precedent around how transparency and automated decision-making safeguards should operate as the use of AI is increasingly rolled out in the public sector, including more widely in the immigration system.

These developments were covered by the media and a full copy of the complaint can be found here. Public law Solicitor, Jonah Mendelsohn, who contributed to the preparation of the complaint while working at Privacy International, provided a quote for the press release announcing the complaint.