Home Office Embeds AI in Immigration Checks Without Public Review

The British government has integrated artificial intelligence into its immigration enforcement machinery with minimal public oversight, according to a new report released on Monday.

Research from the Open Rights Group reveals that AI tools are now embedded across the Home Office. The technology assists in detecting sham marriages, assessing the ages of asylum seekers, and scanning the phones of new arrivals. Border surveillance also relies on live facial recognition systems and AI-powered drones and satellites.

The findings, titled "Automated Discrimination: Unpacking the Digital Hostile Environment," trace a pattern of expansion that began with earlier initiatives to digitize border control. The report notes that officials have routinely cited national security to withhold documents from freedom of information requests. This approach has allowed trials and tests to proceed in near-total secrecy, with key disclosures often redacted.

The Home Office now uses an opaque system called Identify and Prioritise Immigration Cases, or Ipic, to assess and prioritize cases. AI tools also summarize asylum interviews and compile country policy information used as evidence in those proceedings. The report draws on limited material published by the department, freedom of information responses, and questions from members of Parliament.

Bell Ribeiro-Addy of Labour, Pete Wishart of the Scottish National Party, and Siân Berry of the Green Party have provided cross-party backing for the findings. Ribeiro-Addy stated that the Home Office had been reluctant to publish documents explaining how AI is used in asylum processing. She noted that the department has not explained how it ensures accountability when tools fail, or why vulnerable people should bear the greatest risks.

Sara Alsherif, a program manager at the Open Rights Group, described migration as a human phenomenon rather than a technical problem. She called for urgent transparency and strict regulation to restrict the rollout of these tools. The organization urges the government to ban AI uses it deems undemocratic, including the use of ChatGPT tools in asylum applications, and to establish a public register of government AI tools.

A Home Office spokesperson stated that AI is one of several tools used to protect borders and does not replace human decision-makers. The department said asylum decisions are made by trained caseworkers, with AI used only to help navigate interview records and policy information. The spokesperson added that the tools are monitored alongside quality-assurance processes and that the department has committed to publishing updated evaluations of their rollout.