Suspended deportation orders: a proposed law reform

The Immigration Act 2014, the UK statutory law governing deportation, requires deportation as the normal consequence of criminal offending by a foreign national. Deportation is a binary institution; a foreign national offender (FNO) is made subject to a deportation order and deported from the UK, or they are not. This is problematic because it creates two kinds of ‘hard cases’ on either side of the statutory categories for exemption from deportation on the basis of an FNO’s article 8 ECHR family life. This article proposes the introduction of a ‘suspended deportation order’ so as to create a third possible disposal for deportation appeals as a means by which to tackle the problems arising from the binary outcomes to deportation appeals. The article examines suspended prison sentences as a model for the rationale and practical application of a ‘suspended deportation order’, noting both similarities and differences to this fixture of sentencing law.