Home Office ‘error’ sees vulnerable asylum seeker spend her birthday behind bars

Phil Miller - 25 January 2019

SAJID JAVID was branded a “disgrace” tonight after it emerged the Home Office needlessly detained a mentally ill female asylum-seeker on her birthday.

In the latest hostile environment scandal, Aissata Thiam spent a harrowing 48 hours locked up earlier this week after immigration officials made a botched attempt to deport her to a Muslim country in west Africa. We are not naming the country for safety reasons.

She fled from her family there over a decade ago and has lived in Britain ever since, where she has struggled to secure asylum... See more