Thread. There really is nothing grey about this. Yes it's controversial, but at the end of the day deportation is a secondary punishment unavailable for use against native born offenders. So unless you are going to start advocating for penal transportation it's discriminatory. 1/ https://twitter.com/LabourList/status/1333775248265711616

For a legal system to operate truly effectively it has to be equal. Not only in the manner in which cases are heard, but also in the knowledge that punishments are fair and within the limits of the law. Using a secondary punishment on foreign nationals undermines that. 2/

It's an emotive subject. The Home Office has done a good job of making everyone they deport seem like a hardened criminal, and you know what some will be. Deportation is the policy for those who have served 12 months or more, which includes non-violent crimes. 3/

In more than one case it is also applied after a period of time since the individual has served their sentence. During which they may have built up lives and demonstrated that they pose no risk. It breaks up families just out of some idea of revenge essentially. 4/

If you want to argue that we shouldn't have people running around who pose a threat to society then how do propose to deal with domestic criminals? The answer isn't just to deport anyone not born in the UK and hope those who are don't do too much. 5/

The answer is investing in better programmes for rehabilitation to reduce recidivism rates. I know that costs money though, so here's an idea, take the millions of pounds spent on deportations and actually put it into the system to make it better for everyone. 6/

Every argument for deportation, "stop crime", "what about the victims" etc falls with one question, "what about domestic criminals?" So back to reason this isn't a grey area. If you want to tackle crime levels it needs to be across the board, not just based on nationality. 7/

It needs to focus on having a legal system which can be seen to be fair and equitable. Not one where punishments are based on where someone is born. It needs to have investment, rather than wasting millions to deport people who have already served their sentence. 8/

"Controversial" doesn't mean "grey". It means that you need to actually open the debate and start looking at not only why deportation is wrong, but what can be done instead to improve safety for everyone and reduce crime. For now though, deportations have to stop. 9/