英国内政部失误或令7000外国学生停课离境

The Home Office may have falsely accused as many as 7,000 foreign students of faking their proficiency in English and ordered them to leave the country, with some of them saying they were detained and made homeless as a result.

英国内政部可能错误地指控多达7000名外国学生在他们的英语水平上作假，并勒令他们离开英国，其中一些学生表示，此举导致他们遭到拘留，甚至无家可归。

A large majority of the students who were accused of cheating have not been allowed to appeal against the Home Office decision, obtain the evidence against them, or meet officials face-to-face so the quality of their English can be assessed.

绝大多数被指作弊的学生不被允许对内政部的这一决定提出上诉、也不被允许获得证明他们作弊的证据、或由官员对他们的英语水平进行面试评估。

The harsh treatment of the foreign students, who were in the UK legally, showed the extent to which the "hostile environment" policy, introduced by Theresa May, the prime minister, during her time as home secretary had taken root at the department, according to Patrick Lewis, an immigration barrister.

移民律师帕特里克·刘易斯表示，在英国合法居留的外国学生受到当局严苛对待，突显了英国首相特里萨·梅在担任内政大臣期间推行的“敌意环境”政策在内政部生根发芽的程度。

The approach -- which has also been blamed for the harassment suffered by some members of the Windrush generation of pre-1973 Commonwealth migrants to the UK -- seeks to make life so tough for illegal immigrants that they leave the country of their own accord.

这项政策--也被归咎于导致1973年以前由英联邦国家迁往英国的所谓“疾风移民”中的一些人受到骚扰--的本意就是想方设法让非法移民的日子难过，促使他们自愿离英。

In a judgment on the case of one Bangladeshi student, published last year, an immigration tribunal judge said that the Home Office's behaviour was "so unfair and unreasonable as to amount to an abuse of power".

在去年公布的围绕一名孟加拉国学生的案件的判决书中，移民审裁庭的一名法官表示，内政部的行为“如此不公平、不合理，简直相当于滥用职权”。

"The highly questionable quality of the evidence upon which these accusations have been based and the lack of any effective judicial oversight have given rise to some of the greatest injustices that I have encountered in over 20 years of practice," said Mr Lewis from Garden Court Chambers, who has represented several of the affected claimants and overturned the Home Office's ruling in each case.

“这些指控所依据的证据质量非常可疑，而且没有任何有效的司法监督，由此带来了我执业20多年来遇到的一些最严重的不公正，”在Garden Court Chambers执业的刘易斯如此说。他曾代表数名受影响的上诉人，在每起案件中都推翻了内政部的裁决。