What's concerning about this is not that the charities are making reasoned decisions on an individual's welfare based on their circumstances, but that they are being obliged by government to feed the deportation machine.
The likely upshot of this is homeless people refusing to engage with charities who could provide them with services to help them and to hide from the charities, (rightly) seeing them as another arm of the Home Office. The level of mistrust in the homeless community is already high, and this won't help. Homeless people are likely to move to areas where they don't have support networks, leaving them in higher risk situations.
I'm already aware of a number of 'off-grid' homeless individuals and groups, some of whom are immigrant groups, hiding where officialdom and charities can't reach. The immigrants are already in a worse off position as they are less likely to be able to beg (polis will often turn a blind eye to British beggars, but arrest anyone without papers). This makes it more likely that they will turn to crime or just be more malnourished and more susceptible to health problems.
What's concerning about this is not that the charities are making reasoned decisions on an individual's welfare based on their circumstances, but that they are being obliged by government to feed the deportation machine.
The likely upshot of this is homeless people refusing to engage with charities who could provide them with services to help them and to hide from the charities, (rightly) seeing them as another arm of the Home Office. The level of mistrust in the homeless community is already high, and this won't help. Homeless people are likely to move to areas where they don't have support networks, leaving them in higher risk situations.
I'm already aware of a number of 'off-grid' homeless individuals and groups, some of whom are immigrant groups, hiding where officialdom and charities can't reach. The immigrants are already in a worse off position as they are less likely to be able to beg (polis will often turn a blind eye to British beggars, but arrest anyone without papers). This makes it more likely that they will turn to crime or just be more malnourished and more susceptible to health problems.