UK Edition
Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, is preparing a third attempt to deport as many as 50 Jamaicans convicted of serious crimes on November 10.
Home Office officials have begun to detain Jamaicans ready for the deportation flight which is expected to include offenders convicted of violence, sex and drug crimes that have carried jail sentences of at least one year.
At least 12 Jamaican nationals have already been detained at Colnbrook immigration removal centre and four at Brookhouse detention centre.
It follows similar deportation flights in December last year, which saw just 13 of the 50 offenders originally identified for removal fly to Jamaica, and in August this year, when only seven of the original 50 departed on the flight.
Human rights lawyers mounted multiple appeals to thwart the deportation moves, claiming they amounted to a breach of their rights to a family life and that they had been victims of modern slavery.
A demonstration against the deportations is being organised by campaigners for November 4 outside the Jamaican High Commission.
Karen Doyle, national organiser at Movement for Justice, the leading group campaigning against the deportation, told The Voice newspaper that the current handling of detainees was “inhumane”.
“One person had heard that the police had gone round to his partner’s house looking for him. He handed himself in to his local police station and they confirmed it was immigration, but he has a heart condition,” she said.
“He had a heart attack the last time he was in detention and had severe high blood pressure…a doctor has told him he is not fit for detention or flight…he could have a heart attack at any point.”
New immigration system will be 'fair but firm'
The Home Office said: “We make 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.
“Our new Nationality and Borders Bill will create an immigration system that is fair but firm, welcoming those in genuine need but cracking down on those who come to the UK illegally.
“We take the welfare of those in our care very seriously, and work closely with providers and the UK Health Security Agency to ensure all medical advice is closely followed and people self-isolate where needed.
“All immigration removal centres have health facilities run by doctors and nurses as well as robust contingency plans to deal with Covid cases.”