Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department continues to pursue deportation proceedings in cases in which people have been found to have been trafficked under section 22 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Criminal Justice and Support for Victims) Act (Northern Ireland) 2015.

Victims of trafficking and modern slavery who have committed crimes either in the UK or overseas are not exempt from a deportation assessment. As with the operation of the defence for slavery and trafficking victims in relation to certain offences (section 22 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Crim-inal Justice and Support for Victims) Act (Northern Ireland) 2015), an assessment is made, on a case-by-case basis, of the relationship between the crime committed and the circumstances of their trafficking or enslavement.

Under the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, a potential victim of trafficking cannot be removed or deported either during the reflection and recovery period or until a Conclusive Grounds decision has been made. At the end of the 45-day period, which is the minimum recovery and reflection period in Northern Ireland, considera-tion will be given to whether their deportation is appropriate under the UK Borders Act 2007, the Immigration Act 1971 or the EEA Regulations 2016.