Dear Supporter
Thank you to everyone who has written to their MP, shared this petition, tweeted the Home Office and the Jamaican Prime Minister and posted comments on the Jamaica High Commission Facebook, expressing opposition to the charter flight mass deportation planned for December 2nd by the UK Government.
If you or someone you know has been given a removal notice for the flight or believes they are at risk of being deported on it please do get legal support urgently. If you also have children here in the UK, we are interested in speaking to you so please contact us barac.info@gmail.com.
BID UK have just published research on the impact on children of separation because of deportations which you can read using the link below - previously the UK government disgracefully stated that people deported can parent their children by Skype. Due to the pandemic families cannot visit detention centres which mean it is even worse this time around as children will be denied the opportunity to say goodbye to their parents.
"The research confirms what we already know – that enforced parental separation has a lasting damaging impact on children. Despite this, every year in the UK, hundreds or possibly thousands of parents are separated – often permanently – from their children as a result of deportation. Shockingly, we don’t know the true figure because it is not monitored by government."
There has been some news coverage about the deportations , here are a couple of articles.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/lead-stories/20201119/uk-deportees-arrive-december
I would also like to thank all the people who have got in touch directly to offer support and to find out more. I thought it would be helpful to share the attached article I wrote for the Runnymede Trust earlier this year when there was a charter flight to Jamaica in February to provide some information about the people who are targeted for such flights and the impacts on them and their family. There was a collective legal challenge in February because many of those booked on the flight had been denied access to justice due to problems with phone signals in detention centres and we have heard that the computer room in at least one detention centre is closed as a coronavirus measure which means that those booked on the Jamaica flight cannot access information and seek legal representation and gather evidence - another reason why there should not be a mass deportation in the middle of a pandemic.
Please let us know if you receive a reply from your MP.
Here is another action for you to participate in to put pressure on the government. Please post comments on this facebook post which is about the Windrush Compensation scheme and sessions the Home Office are running:
Here are some points you can make when posting your comments:
These deportations are directly linked to the Windrush generation and scandal because most of the people being targeted for deportation on the December flight, if not of the Windrush generation themselves will be the children and grandchildren of a Windrush generation parent/ grandparent. The vast majority of those impacted still have not received compensation and some have sadly passed away. In addition the Windrush Lessons Learned report recommendations have not been implemented including the requirement for race equality training.
The most senior black Home Office employee in the team responsible for the Windrush compensation scheme resigned this year, describing the scheme as systemically racist and unfit for purpose - you can read more here:
The Home Office have a tweet on the same topic which you can post comments on asking them not to go ahead with the deportations:
https://twitter.com/ukhomeoffice/status/1329099547860197376?s=19
Please continue to use the hashtag #Jamaica50.
Thank you for your support - please share this update and petition with your networks.
Kind Regards
Zita
Zita Holbourne
On behalf of BARAC UK and BAME Lawyers for Justice