Jaddoo: Humanitarian aspect being ignored in UK deportations
Published:Tuesday | August 10, 2021 | 12:09 AMJudana Murphy/Gleaner Writer
Grassroots Windrush organisations in the United Kingdom (UK) have renewed calls for a cessation or moratorium on deportation flights until the Windrush Scandal is fully addressed.
At least 30 Jamaicans have been issued deportation orders for a charter flight scheduled for Wednesday.
This will be the fourth deportation flight that will take place since the Windrush Scandal emerged.
Chairman of the Windrush National Organisation, Dr Desmond Jaddoo, has made representation on behalf of 12 Jamaicans set to be deported.
In a meeting with the director of logistics in the UK Home Office yesterday, concerns were raised by Jaddoo and other campaigners about the COVID-19 risk.
“It has been reported that there is an outbreak of COVID-19 at Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre. I have spoken to someone there who has told me that they have been removed from the flight,” he shared.
Jaddoo said campaigners were assured that COVID-19 tests will be done 72 hours before the flight and those who return positive tests will be removed.
Contacts of people who test positive will be subject to isolation.
Last Thursday, The Guardian reported that there were objections to the impending deportation of Jamaicans who came to the UK as children.
The British newspaper said it was an “apparent reversal of an earlier agreement not to deport people who arrived in this country as minors”.
“It is not clear whether this concession was granted only for the last Jamaica deportation charter in December, amid strong public pressure against the flight, with support from Bernardine Evaristo, model Naomi Campbell and historian David Olusoga,” read a section of the newspaper report.
Jaddoo told The Gleaner that he was concerned that many of the people he has made representation for have children.
“We have recognised that the law does not take into account the humanitarian aspect of all of this. Many of these people do have families, some have been out of prison for nearly a decade without reoffending. We’ve got people who have come out of prison and they’ve had children since,” he said.
Jaddoo sought to explain that the 2007 Borders Act works to the disadvantage of people as it allows automatic deportation of some foreign nationals in two circumstances: if they are imprisoned for specific offences or they are imprisoned for more than one year.
“Who is considering the plight of children? These crimes which have been committed, people have served their time in prison and the victims have had justice because the person has paid the penalty,” he lamented.
NO APOLOGY
Last week, a Home Office spokesperson told The Gleaner that it makes no apology for seeking to remove those with no right to remain in the UK and dangerous foreign criminals.
“That is why we regularly operate charter flights to different countries – to remove dangerous criminals and those who have no right to be in the country but refuse to leave voluntarily,” the spokesperson added.
Jaddoo said he is hoping that the questions being asked and the pressure that is being applied will cause the UK government to halt its plans.
“With the past mistakes which have been made by the Home Office, the Jamaican Government should really think carefully about whether or not they accept this flight, also taking into consideration the COVID-19 threat,” he said.
He said this round of deportation has highlighted yet again that people can be sentenced to prison for 12 months for minor offences and potentially put themselves in line for deportation.
Jaddoo used the opportunity to urge Jamaicans who have leave to remain in the UK, whether limited or indefinite, to finalise their citizenship, as those arrangements can be revoked quickly.
Up to press time, minister without portfolio in the Ministry of National Security, Senator Matthew Samuda, did not respond to questions sent by The Gleaner.
The UK has recently been experiencing a wave of COVID-19 infections, fuelled largely by the Delta variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19.
At least one deportee tested positive for COVID-19 after landing in Jamaica last December.