Looking across the wood-panelled courtroom of Margate magistrates’ court, Kambiz Fatihi had just one question: could somebody please call his mother?
As the government pushes to “smash the gangs” and reduce the number of small boat crossings, courts in Kent have quietly become the centre of the legal battle over migration, hearing hundreds of cases a year.
However, lawyers and legal researchers are increasingly raising concerns about the prosecutions, which they say overwhelmingly do not result in deportation and do not target influential smugglers.
“I am 100 per cent guilty,” Fatihi, 30, from Iran, admitted through tears on Monday. He was charged with entering Britain from Iran illegally without entry clearance, an offence potentially also committed by the other 51 people in his boat when it was intercepted by Border Force on Saturday. Yet only Fatihi was prosecuted.
“He is here because he was seen with his hand on the tiller,” Richard Graham, his lawyer, told the court.
