Despite a protest staged outside the Jamaican High Commission in London Tuesday, the British Government deported 42 Jamaicans amid claims that they were tricked and that the expulsions were unjust.
The deportees, some carrying only one bag of personal possessions, arrived in Kingston on a chartered flight yesterday morning and were taken to Mobile Reserve, the police unit at Merrion Road, where they were processed before being released to anxious relatives.
Most hid their faces on release, except for one irate middle-aged man. He accused the British authorities of “using racism and bullyism” to effect the deportations and blamed the Jamaican Government of being a “sell-out”.
He said he was sent back to Jamaica over a “few bags of weed”, but argued that the British “rob and rape the world and no one is holding them responsible for that”.
“I’m a Rasta man, what do you expect of me? I smoke it,” he said in reference to marijuana.
He said he had already completed over four months of his nine-month sentence, but that the immigration authorities held him for another four months. “Then dem just say time to deport you. I appealed everything, and they turned down everything and pushed it aside,” he told journalists.
The Unity Centre, an immigration and asylum support group that opposes the move by the British Government, said the sentiment amongst the deportees is that they were conned and manipulated.
“People issued tickets for the charter flight on Wednesday have complied with the conditions imposed on them by the Home Office. They have succumbed to the Home Office’s every demand and now feel like they have been tricked and kidnapped. Each person told the same story — they went to sign at the Home Office reporting centre as required and were tricked,” the Unity Centre said earlier this week in a news release headlined ‘Home Office Restarts Racist Jamaica Charter Flights’.
The UK’s Guardian newspaper on Tuesday, in its report on the protest over the deportations outside the Jamaican High Commission in south-west London, pointed out that some of the deportees were still fighting their immigration cases.
“Critics have raised questions about the tactics used by Home Office immigration enforcement, which has been accused of ‘strategically’ detaining individuals to fill the flight, without consideration of their circumstances,” the Guardian said.
Yesterday, the Jamaica Observer was told that among the deportees were elderly individuals, some of whom have lived their entire lives in England.
One woman who spoke with the Observer was on the verge of tears as she said she was anxious to see her son who was locked up in the United Kingdom in 2014. She said she had been in contact with him through twice-monthly phone calls facilitated by a chaplain at the prison where he had been incarcerated. She said that while, she was happy to have her son home, she was devastated by the circumstances under which he had been forced to return.
The Glasgow-based Unity Centre said it has been in contact with more than 50 Jamaicans detained by UK immigration and that, “Everyone we have spoken to has been here since they were children and have no family or friends in Jamaica.”
The organisation charged that hundreds who were previously released on bail and temporary admission have been detained “in a deliberate act to prepare for this charter flight to Jamaica”.
“Their lives are here in the UK. Everyone we have spoken to has British family, children and partners, even grandchildren and extended family. Many individuals have ongoing immigration cases and most cannot afford to pay the huge legal fees to regularise their stay…Their lives are here in the UK. Everyone we have spoken to has British family, children and partners, even grandchildren and extended family,” the solidarity group stated.
The Unity Centre further argued that many of those detained for deportation were “swept up” as part of a controversial initiative named ‘Operation Nexus’. “Some of the people we spoke to, due to be deported on Wednesday, have never even been convicted of a crime. Those that have served custodial sentences served their sentences. This is simply a racist double punishment,” the group alleged.
Yesterday, Jamaica’s foreign affairs ministry said it has been advised by the Ministry of National Security that “such flights have previously been used over the past several years, under a Memorandum of Understanding between the governments of Jamaica and the United Kingdom, which addresses such matters”.
Treasurer of the National Organisation of Deported Migrants Dwight Jones, who along with other representatives of that group waited outside the gates of the Mobile Reserve, told the press that the organisation stood ready to assist the deportees with information, transportation, and direct those who would be homeless to shelters.
“We are able to provide documentation such as birth certificate and TRN, and we work with government agencies, non-government agencies and donor agencies. (This) is not necessarily an exceptional event – we are here every month, and in some instances it’s a weekly thing,” Jones said, noting that about 70 people are deported from the United States weekly, but that deportations from the UK are not as frequent.
Oh Lord! That is all I can say. WOW.
This really saddens me and it not an easy road when these people get deported hopefully they effectively utilitie their time, experience and skills for something positive and not let this bring them down. People need to realise that even if your naturalised and engaging in certain activities they will deport you in an instant. England in particularly is overcrowded they are trying to reduced immigration and I have a feeling that cases like these will be happening quite frequently. The States deport people often for issues that can be easily resolved. People on my facebook page are having a big discussion on this, and why they hiding their faces I won’t if I know that I am making a good contribution to society and my intention were pure and true. Mi only sorry fi the people that were trying to better themselves but didn’t have dem stay and like the rasta say bout the herbs I heard people on facebook saying sometimes it petty crime//simple and things that can be resolved easily. When some dem get dip and their children are left behind and have no one to take care of children they end up going into child care home sometimes the kids struggle with depression and mental illness and this has happened to one of my friends and he told me Christmas was worst time because he had to spend it with friends and never his family as a child.
I am not against most countries deporting anyone that have broken their laws but I am against the UK deporting Jamaicans(criminals or not).The UK stole everything from us.
Precisely
Well better we did tek the prison cause guest what the deportees will be coming.
Shaddap..lol
Me no see the big uproar or i guess like the man say they dont deport often fr the UK. This is wah 42 deportees in how long compared to the 70odd a week them send fr US
The government of Jamaica is colluding with the UK government to deny these people the right to due process.
If you thought the cruel government of Jamaica had an ounce of care for Jamaicans ,here is your proof.
Few months ago there was a guy called matalan stuck in an Colombian prison with a warrant from Panama. This man was born in panama and have never lived in jamaica. He claimed Jamaican citizenship while his problems with the Panamanian authorities developed.
The Jamaican ministry of foreign affairs was working overtime to free this man who was wanted in panama for billion dollar fraud.
Your point? Because the Columbian/panama one don’t tie into you first paragraph.
Not a laughing matter, but I chuckle at the NY folks or any other states in American that my fellow Jamaicans resides and don’t follow the rules when they damn well and know that they are illegal. The drugs, thieving, scamming and the name brand life. This is just the smoke, watch out America. The ones with the green cards running around thinking that they are safe, people who has green cards get deported for traffic tickets, The men who sit and don’t pay their child support and thinking they have the last laugh, rules is rules. When we can pay off the licky licky police and judicial system in jamaica I hope for you all sake this is a wake up call.
My thing is a lot of Jamaicans and Africans voted to come out the EU and this is just the beginning. The EU/Human rights were their for that same reason
So true. A lot of black immigrants are saying that Britain is over crowed and they need to send immigrants back home. What they do not realise is, blacks especially West Indians will be the first to go.
The jamaican government is not protecting its citizen , as long as MPs and their families can travel freely they don’t give a dam about treaties they agreed to..
Do you think them changing Birth certificates does not have an impact? There are loads of rights some jamaican and other commonwealth citizens have , however they are not aware of it. This is true for most who were born before independence, especially if they had parents and grand parents who were living in the UK before and after independence.
Look up the British nationality Act 1948, look up the Jamsican independence Act, read about Citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies and who are qualified, the immigration Act 1981 .
People we have technology available at our disposal. With the right information and if qualified with documentation , most instances a person does not need a lawyer as the application is quite straight forward where you yourself can fill out the application forms yourself and submit it with whe required amount of money that they charge as fees.
Do your home work, a lot of lawyers are not qualified in immigration law so they will take your money and you will not have a successful claim.
What a lot if people do not realise is, even if you have a lawyer dealing with your case, they do not have any influence with in the immigration department. All a lawyer is doing is to make sure that the applicant satisfied the required criteria with documentation to prove that what the applicant is saying is true, and if the applicant does not know the law, to inform him/ her correctly. People do your home work.
Those who voted to leave the EU voted were racist. What the government did not tell the citizen was their real intention was to repeal the Human Rights Act 1998 as it gives to much rights where the Courts could to an extent strike down enacted laws or judicial decision that breached those rights , example fair trial/ hearing which every citizen should expect.
A lot of fool fool black people voted out. How can you have access to go and work , live in 27 different countries in the EU and you did not think this was a good thing?
You want to see the little illiterate morons how them proud to celebrate that UK is out. Bunch a idiot.s
Please also look up the immigration Act 1971 and 1981 Act and put them all together
Very sad. Let’s pray for one another
Gg as someone who voted stay in the EU I can say 90% of people in my university class voted to leave and many of those people where white I was in a university group chat I was surprised they said that migrants are taking their jobs which is why they voted leave and next group of people that voted to leave were of Indian and Pakistan heritage and their statement were similar to those of the white people. Compare to those people even if Caribbeans and Africans vote to stay it wouldn’t have much effect because the largest ethnic group voted to leave. And most young under 24 didn’t voted all this was also my first time voting as well (my mother actually beg to vote stay and I did).
Welcome to the Jamaica Labour party were you all get deported back to Jamaica by the hundreds this is the agreement between unnu government and the prime minister of the British government…thanks to Andrew you f***g fool there is no were on earth you should be accepting individual that migrated out of the country from there was a baby because they are not really the product of Jamaica they are the product of the British because they know no other life other than living in London…..
@Anonymous 15. Andrew has noting to do with that. You gwan like Jamaica got weight to tell a big country not to deport illegals. Instead of using the UK system to get schooling and a job. most just want to go over breed up and sit on their asses.
UK websites has a lot of jobs. No excuses. No………its the typical thing what Jamaicans do get rich quick fi floss off of the next poor man. No longevity.
Not everybody can be the big man. It’s such a waste of time being in a country without papers. No pension fi get. They draining the country too. tax payers have to pay for all these illegals kids, health insurance, and housing.
Dem haffi cover dem face yes cause nuff a dem teck big stone drop behind dem when dem get di visa. No more fish n chips or bangers and mash. Can bet how dem bex dem won’t get to pose off no more wid dem fat white ooman dem.
I wish dem di best. There are worse names to be called than deportee. But I fear many will be just as unproductive in JA as they were in UK.
Andrew have everything to do with what a gwaan. There was a person on the flight who left jamaica at two to live with his grandparents who can’t read.
This person is now 30 and does not hold a jamaican passport therefore would be unable to travel to Jamaica unless given emergency travel documents. That is something that you have to apply for in person. No one would be stupid enough to apply for travel documents for their own deportation.
This person has lived all their formative years in the UK and under UK laws qualifies for citizenship.
Why he never applied? He went to UK at two,chances are he didn’t have a clue he wasn’t British.
Andrew Holness did all this.
Nutten new desso. UK been trying to get rid a dem long before Andrew big nose sniff out politricks. Bout ten years ago or more dem was offering 5000 pounds fi ppl teck voluntary departure from England. Di ppl dem bawl out and loud up di move and dem push it unda carpet. All who did bout and knew should have sort out demself from den. Betta, who couldn’t sort out should have taken the money and guh home and start buy some fowl raise, and see other profitable ventures dem could move into. Opportunities still exist for the enterprising mind. From di looks of some a dem in deze photos not even 20 pounds in dem pocket.