DS v The Secretary of State for the Home Department

Facts

The appellant, DS, is an Albanian citizen born in 1990 who left Albania on 15 December 2013 and entered the United Kingdom clandestinely on 25 December 2013. He made no attempt to regularise his status and first came to the attention of the authorities on 30 May 2018, when he was arrested under an alias; he was convicted of driving offences the following day and sentenced to 16 weeks' imprisonment. He was administratively removed on 26 July 2018 but re-entered, on his account in July 2021. Arrested on 18 August 2022 on suspicion of drug offences, he was convicted on 1 December 2022 of being concerned in the production of a Class B drug and sentenced to 8 months' imprisonment. On 10 December 2022 he was served with a Stage One notice of intention to deport under section 5(1) of the Immigration Act 1971. He claimed asylum on 18 January 2023 and a National Referral Mechanism referral produced a positive conclusive grounds decision dated 25 September 2023 accepting him as a victim of modern slavery by way of forced criminality. His account was that he borrowed money from a man referred to as AM to fund his mother's surgery, was located, assaulted and trafficked to the United Kingdom, and forced to work in cannabis cultivation. The Secretary of State refused his protection and human rights claims on 7 March 2025, and he appealed to the First-tier Tribunal.