Campaigner group the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) along with digital rights group Foxglove plan a judicial review of the algorithm, which they claim was designed around ‘institutionally racist practices’.
The JCWI says that the algorithm uses a traffic light system when sorting applications. This effectively creates a ‘fast lane’ to applicants from certain countries who are white.
The Home Office describes the visa processing algorithm system as a digital ‘streaming tool’, which assigns applicants with a Red, Amber or Green rating for risk. A higher risk is given to applicants with “suspect” nationalities, decreasing their chances of being allowed entry to the UK. The Home Office has announced that the algorithm will be stopped, they do not accept the claims of the campaigners.
Legal Policy Director of the JCWI, Chai Patel, said the decision proved the system needed to be rebuilt: ‘The Home Office’s independent review after the Windrush scandal found it was oblivious to the racist systems and assumptions it operates.
This tool took decades of institutionally racist practices: for example, targeting particular nationalities, and put them into the software. The immigration system has to be rebuilt from the ground up to monitor for bias and root it out.’
The Home Office’s solicitors have confirmed that Priti Patel has decided to discontinue the streaming tool while a review is undertaken of its operation. The redesign will ‘consider and assess’ the points raised by the legal challenge ‘including unconscious bias and the use of nationality in the streaming tool.’
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