Judges have blocked the deportation of a Romanian criminal convicted of a string of offences including burglary, robbery, and possession of a knife, citing European Union law.
20-year-old Denis Viscu has racked up 14 convictions for 20 offences since his arrival in the United Kingdom in 2007, perpetrated between July 2014 and March 2017.
EU supporters often claim that the bloc’s Free Movement migration regime only applies to people travelling for labour, and that Britain and other member-states can deport EU migrants who commit crimes and avoid work — but in reality migration rights are much more general and deportation powers much more limited, as the Home Office found when it attempted to deport Viscu as a “persistent offender”.
Citing Chapter IV of the EU’s Citizens’ Directive, which states that “[European] Union citizens who have resided legally for a continuous period of five years in the host Member State shall have the right of permanent residence there”, judges at the Court of Appeal ordered the migrant’s case must be reheard, the Telegraph reports.