Home Office launches UK trial to electronically tag and monitor migrants granted immigration bail - here’s why

As part of a Home Office trial programme, some migrants coming in the UK through tiny boats or the backs of lorries will be electronically tagged.

The 12-month trial, which began on 15 June, will see if electronic monitoring is an effective way to provide immigration bail to people who enter the nation by "unnecessary and dangerous" routes, according to the Government.

It comes after the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) granted an injunction on 14 June, preventing a chartered flight to the Rwandan capital of Kigali from departing Wiltshire.

Here is everything you need to know about the trial.

What is the trial?

The trial, according to the Home Office, will see if tagging aids regular communication with people granted bail and advances their migration claims more quickly.

Those who have been tagged will be required to report to authorities on a regular basis, and may be subject to a curfew or barred from particular areas.

Failing to comply could result in their being detained or prosecuted.

According to the BBC, the first people to be tagged under the bail programme were likely those who had avoided being deported to Rwanda.

Why is it happening?

It comes after the ECHR issued an injunction on 14 June, stopping a chartered flight from departing Wiltshire for the Rwandan city of Kigali.

Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, accused the ECHR of being politically motivated in its "absolutely scandalous" ruling, while Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said that new laws might allow the Government to essentially ignore interim measures issued by the Strasbourg court.

The Government had planned to transport some migrants who entered the UK illegally to the east African country to seek asylum.

Under its controversial Rwanda plan, migrants will be medically evaluated by Navy and Border Force officials as they are brought ashore in Dover, before being taken to the abandoned Manston airfield and processing centre in Wiltshire..

Those who are found to have arrived through unsafe or illegal means will be detained and screened before being transferred to Rwanda.

The goals of the asylum strategy are to decrease migrant crossings across the English Channel, eliminate human smuggling, and boost Rwandan investment and development.

Boris Johnson has said that the policy will "save countless lives" and put an end to "vile people smugglers'".

But the plans have been challenged in court and opposed by prominent bishops of the Church of England, as well as the Prince of Wales, according to reports, with the Prime Minister admitting that there has been criticism from “some slightly unexpected quarters.”