After a break, the Home Office will resume flights to Jamaica tomorrow
The Home Office had suspended all deportation flights in 2018 after the Windrush scandal came to light and an independent review was set up to look into its failings, but the department once again appears to be moving forward with an imminent deportation flight to Jamaica despite last-minute legal challenges made by those due to be on board and the fact that more than 100 cross-party MPs and peers have signed a letter to prime minister Boris Johnson calling for the flight to be postponed.
Approximately 50 men are scheduled to be on tomorrow’s flight, many of whom arrived in the UK as children or were born in the UK to parents of uncertain immigration status and some of whom could have received British citizenship as children but were unable to afford the fees. Several detainees have indefinite leave to remain in the UK adding to the fear that the UK may inadvertently be deporting British citizens.
Many of the deportees have British partners and children and fear for their safety abroad because of gang violence on the island. It has been reported that at least five people have been killed after being deported to Jamaica since the Windrush scandal was exposed.
David Lammy, Labour’s member of parliament for Tottenham has called for a moratorium on deportation flights until the Windrush Lessons Learned review (the “Review”) is published and its recommendations implemented.
The Review was first due to be made public on March 31, 2019 but its publication was delayed to September of that year. There has been no word as to when the report will now be published, but leaked portions have been released. One recommendation contained in the Review is that the British government should rethink its policy and approach with regard to foreign national offenders by amending primary legislation if necessary. Other suggested changes in policy including ending the deportation of foreign national offenders if the person arrived in the UK as a child and only resorting to deportation as an act of last resort in the most severe cases.
Lammy acknowledged that there may be cases where deportation is an appropriate response, but reiterated that persons who have lived in the UK since they were children and those who have committed one-off drugs offences should be subject to different criteria. To do otherwise, in his opinion, would be to mete out punishment that is disproportionate and cruel.
The Home Office has maintained that all due processes have been followed.
