UK to amend 1971 immigration law to deport gang leader

The British government has moved to close a legal loophole that has prevented the deportation of a convicted grooming gang leader, Shabir Ahmed, following his release from prison. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced the proposed legal change in Parliament on Monday, July 13, 2026, targeting a 1971 immigration law that protects some long-term residents from removal.

Ahmed, a 73-year-old who holds Pakistani nationality, was released from prison on July 2 after serving 14 years of a 19-year sentence. He was convicted in 2012 for multiple child sexual offences as the ringleader of a gang that targeted young girls in Rochdale, northern England. Following his conviction, he was stripped of his British citizenship. However, his deportation has been blocked by Section 7 of the Immigration Act 1971, which prohibits the removal of Commonwealth citizens who arrived in the UK before 1973 and have lived there for at least five years.

Mahmood told lawmakers she was acting in response to Ahmed's case, introducing an amendment to the ongoing Immigration and Asylum Bill. The change would grant the Home Secretary a new power to disapply the 1971 law's protections in cases involving serious...