Dear Supporter

Thank you for signing our petition. 

On Monday 170 politicians signed a letter initiated by Nadia Whittome MP, calling for the charter flight deportations to be halted.
There was an emergency debate in Parliament and two class legal actions were lodged, one to halt the entire plane, which was lost and one on behalf of those booked on the flight who were detained at Harmondsworth and Colnbrook detention centres due to the fact that they had been denied access to legal advisors in the run up to the flight going, because there were major phone mask problems meaning they could not get a signal using the phones issued to them (their own phones are banned in the detention centres). This legal action taken by Detention Action was won.

On Monday afternoon several individuals who sought asylum or lodged judicial  review applications also had their deportations  cancelled. One of these, was the 22 year old man I informed you about in an earlier update, who came to the UK aged 4 years old, has British parents and siblings and had indefinite  leave to remain in the UK granted as a child. At the age of 17 he was groomed and ended up in prison. Since coming out of prison he has turned his life around, working in the family business and caring for his mother who is experiencing ill health.  Immigration  Enforcement wrote to advise that his deportation  had been cancelled because there was reasonable grounds to believe he was a victim of modern slavery. 

Early evening on Monday all those booked on the flight at these two centres were advised by the staff there that their flights were cancelled only to find themselves being segregated and isolated  a couple of hours later, which is the process when people are about to be transported to the plane.

By this time, the legal case had been won but the government  lodged an appeal and decided to proceed irrespective of the law.

Some of those at these two detention centres were permitted to keep phones so we were able to keep in touch with them through the night.

They were driven from South East England to the North to Doncaster Sheffield airport in coaches and vans, but one severely ill and disabled man was transferred in the convoy of vehicles in an ambulance.  This is because he has a heart condition,  a liver condition and had to be transferred using breathing apparatus.  It is of concern that a doctor authorised him as being fit to fly given the severity of his conditions.

When they were half an hour away from the airport, the government lost their appeal but nobody in authority  told the people who were not supposed to be deported this. Fortunately  we were able to.  However when they told the private security  guards this, they told them it was not true and that the people being deported had lost the case. We then advised them on how to assert their legal rights not to be deported and what to inform the guards about their collective case. In the vans and coaches there were only escorts and  private security  guards , no immigration officers, who responded that it was nothing to do with them and to tell the immigration  officers when they got to the plane. In the meantime the legal representatives were having to contact the courts and the lawyers representing government to raise urgent concerns. By this time it was 3.00am.

The vehicles were driven onto the airfield where the plane was waiting.  Each person was surrounded and separated by three security  guards and as they were about to be placed on the plane it was very stressful for all concerned. 

At 4.20am we received a call to advise that those from Harmondsworth  and Colnbrook had just been informed  bar a couple of people that they were not going to be deported. 

They were then put back in the coaches and vans and driven to Morton Hall detention centre in Lincolnshire, arriving there 7.30am but the gates were locked do they had to sit outside for 2 hours awaiting somebody to unlock the gates to the grounds then another hour approximately until the building was unlocked.

By this time apart from approximately 45 minutes when they were taken out of vehicles at the airport, they had been sitting in the coaches and vans for 12 hours.

At Morton Hall they were given no information about what was going to happen to them next or how long they were to stay there. 

In the meantime we received many messages from family members - partners and parents saying they did not know if their children and husbands etc had been deported or not as they were not able to make contact and because of the confusion and misinformation throughout the night, adding to the stress.

Of the 50 people who were targeted for deportation on yesterday's flight  only 17 were taken but those who were taken will face destitution at best. We are aware that some of  those deported on the two previous flights have sadly been murdered or took their own lives.

An emergency meeting has been called in Parliament  this evening to discuss deportation  flights, Windrush compensation and the hostile environment and this is hosted by the Shadow Home Secretary, Diane Abbott MP. 

We will provide further updates over the coming days to let you know how you can support the campaign going forward. 

Regards and thanks

Zita