ImmigrationJul 1, 2026·2 min read

Andy Burnham says ‘nothing off table’ in case of Rochdale grooming gang leader

The Guardian – World

2h ago

Andy Burnham says ‘nothing off table’ in case of Rochdale grooming gang leader

Summary

Labour leader-in-waiting wants to close loophole preventing deportation of sex offender Andy Burnham will explore “all possible options”, if he becomes prime minister, to close a legal loophole that prevented the deportation of a “vile” Rochdale grooming gang leader. In his first significant intervention as Labour leader-in-waiting, Burnham said nothing would be “off the table” in the case of Shabir Ahmed, 73, who is expected to be released from prison on Thursday. Ahmed’s victims were told in 2012 he would be deported after being jailed for 30 child rape charges involving girls as young as 13. However, the government this week admitted that the provisions of the Immigration Act 1971 meant he could not be deported to Pakistan, where he was born, even though he has been stripped of British citizenship. Burnham, who is expected to become prime minister on 20 July, said on Wednesday: “Like everyone, I want this vile criminal out of the country. Victims must come first. I will ask the home and foreign secretaries to review all possible options – – and they should consider nothing is off the table.” Ahmed, who was known as “Daddy”, was sentenced to 22 years in prison after being convicted in 2012 for playing a key role in the Rochdale grooming gang, which was said to have had as many as 50 victims. He is due to be freed from prison on 2 July and will be banned from Rochdale. A letter believed to be from the probation service to victims this week said the government was unable to deport Ahmed under the terms of the Immigration Act 1971. This is because he arrived in the UK before 1973 and had lived in the UK for at least five years before his deportation was considered.

From the source

Read the full article

Published by The Guardian – World on theguardian.com

Open on theguardian.com ↗

ICE Flouting Federal Judge’s Order to Stop Arresting Immigrants at New York Courts

Federal agents took three people into custody at immigration courts in New York City over the last week in what lawyers said appears to be the first grave violations of two orders by federal judges barring such arrests. The arrests continued on Monday, when ICE (immigration enforcement agency) agents detained a third man, originally from Guatemala, at 290 Broadway. The judge’s order barred ICE from making arrests at Manhattan immigration courts in all but a narrow handful of exceptions, while a similar ruling issued on June 23 from a federal court in California applies nationwide. All three men have since been transferred to detention centers, according to ICE records. Ray James ICE Processing Center in Folkston, Georgia. One immigration lawyer said the courthouse arrests were part of a growing pattern of increased ICE detentions. “For whatever reason, that order is essentially being disregarded, and we’ve seen a pretty significant uptick in detentions,” said Benjamin Remy, senior coordinating attorney at the immigration protection unit of the New York Legal Assistance Group. Beginning in May 2025 and continuing for almost exactly a year, ICE arrests at 26 Federal Plaza, 290 Broadway, and another immigration court at 201 Varick Street were commonplace, with hundreds of people swept up by masked ICE agents when they showed up for scheduled hearings. Like the overwhelming majority of people arrested in immigration courts over the past year, the men arrested over the past week were following demands made of them by the immigration system . ICE has repeatedly defended the arrests as legitimate. The Department of Government Efficiency has stripped Congress of its power of the purse.

Nepal seeks India border talks based on historical maps and agreements

Nepal is ready to resolve its border issue with India through diplomatic dialogue on the basis of historical agreements and maps, Nepal Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal said on Wednesday. Replying to questions from lawmakers in the Upper House, Khanal said Kathmandu wanted to address the matter while abiding by "the spirit and sentiments of close relations existing between Nepal and India". "The Nepal government is always ready to resolve the border issue (with India) through diplomatic dialogue on the basis of the historical agreement and map abiding by the spirit and sentiments of close relations existing between Nepal and India," Khanal said. Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs later said the prime minister was referring to cross-border occupation by people from both sides of the border. On the Susta border issue, Khanal said, "Mechanisms have already been set up and actively working at various border areas of Nepal and India." He added, "Any work being carried out in and around the intentional border is being done through coordination between the two sides." Referring to the construction of a 132-metre embankment in the Susta area in southern Nepal, he said the work had moved ahead only after coordination between officials of the two countries. Nepal and India have a long-running boundary dispute over Lipulekh, Limpiyadhura and Kalapani, with both sides laying claim to the areas. India has maintained that these territories are part of Uttarakhand and has said the issue should be addressed through bilateral dialogue. Earlier, on June 10, Khanal had told Parliament that a joint working group would deal with the issue of cross-border occupation between Nepal and India, as he sought to clarify Shah's remarks. He had also said that the next meeting of the Nepal-India Joint Working Group on Border Management would be held in India in August. Khanal's statement on Wednesday underlined Nepal's position that border issues with India should be handled through bilateral diplomatic channels, including existing mechanisms and coordination on the ground, while the two countries continue to engage on longstanding disputed areas.

The Daily Catch-Up: What UP wants, US Supreme Court birthright citizenship ruling & and other top news

Each weekday, The Daily Catch-Up sifts through the day’s news so you do not have to. Yet Akhilesh Yadav remains trapped by his old image of lawlessness and Yadav-Muslim favouritism, unable to convert widespread desire for change into support for the SP; Rahul Gandhi is shedding his “pappu” tag on the ground even as the Congress organisation stays dormant. US Supreme Court strikes down Trump’s birthright citizenship order The US Supreme Court struck down US President Donald Trump ’s executive order that sought to deny automatic citizenship to children born on US soil to undocumented immigrants and temporary visa holders. The verdict matters enormously to India’s roughly 5.2 million-strong diaspora, particularly the 300,000-plus H-1B work visa holders whose American-born children risked statelessness, while their parents waited decades for the green-card backlog to clear. Indian signatories include National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah , PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti, and RJD MP Manoj Jha, while Pakistani signatories include former foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri and physicist Pervez Hoodbhoy. The letter calls for restoring High Commissioners in both capitals, resuming visa services, reopening airspace and the Attari-Wagah border, reviving the Kartarpur Corridor, and reopening a comprehensive dialogue on Jammu and Kashmir, including revisiting the 2004–07 negotiating framework. The piece argues this history complicates the simple British-versus-Indian narrative of colonial economics. MGNREGA replaced: new rural jobs scheme sets fresh wage rates The two-decade-old rural employment guarantee law has been replaced by the VB-G RAM G scheme, with daily wages fixed between Rs 300 and Rs 409 depending on the state. Ram Temple donation ‘theft’ row shakes up UP politics SP, Congress and BSP are pressing the BJP over alleged embezzlement of Ram Temple donations, while CM Adityanath tries to redirect the conversation back to Hindutva politics ahead of 2027 polls. Small manufacturers alarmed by anti-dumping probe tied to JSW joint venture An anti-dumping investigation into imported CRGO steel — sought by a JSW-JFE joint venture that is now India’s sole domestic producer — has MSME transformer makers worried about rising costs eventually hitting electricity tariffs.

Andy Burnham says ‘nothing off table’ in case of Rochdale grooming gang leader

From the source

More in Immigration

ICE Flouting Federal Judge’s Order to Stop Arresting Immigrants at New York Courts

Nepal seeks India border talks based on historical maps and agreements

The Daily Catch-Up: What UP wants, US Supreme Court birthright citizenship ruling & and other top news