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My view is that this is entirely proper and necessary.

We should not deport people automatically and there should be a very strong presumption against deportation where the offence is minor unless it is as part of a pattern of offending (i.e. D's 100th conviction for shop theft) but if the Court do not gather this information then they cannot properly consider whether deportation following conviction is a proper consideration.

After all, what are they supposed to do, guess based on the D's appearance and manner of speech?

I can see the argument that this should not be pleaded but it should be on the papers made available to the sentencing body.