Black Activists Rising Against Cuts. (BARAC) UK: Take Action against the Home Office summer of mass deportations

The Home Office has planned a summer of mass deportations by charter flight to Zimbabwe, Vietnam, Jamaica, Pakistan, Ghana and Nigeria.

You can support our campaign to oppose these deportations by signing our petitions and using the model letter below to write to your MP.

https://www.change.org/p/stop-all-charter-flight-mass-deportations-to-jamaica-other-commonwealth-countries-jamaica50

https://www.change.org/p/uk-home-office-stop-the-charter-flight-deportations-to-zimbabwe

We are using the hashtags:

#stoptheplane #Zimbabwe150 #Jamaica50 Vietnam22 #enddeportations

Model Letter to MPs

Dear [Member of Parliament],

I am writing as a constituent to ask that you urgently oppose the mass deportations by charter flight scheduled by the Home Office during the next few weeks. There has already been one deportation flight to Zimbabwe on 21st of July with 14 people deported. A flight to Vietnam is scheduled for Wednesday 28th of July, another on 11th of August to Jamaica and others to Pakistan, Nigeria and Ghana. Mass deportation flights are a breach of human rights. There is evidence that the Caribbean community has been targeted disproportionately for deportations in addition to the horrific impacts of the Windrush scandal.

Amongst those targeted for deportation on these flights are young people who have been victims of modern day slavery, people who have made their home in the UK for decades, who have contributed to the British economy and society, who came to the UK as children, who are parents of British born and young children, who came to the country as refugees, including people who have had to flee persecution.

There have been outbreaks of coronavirus in detention centres in recent months and those detained have reported a woeful and unacceptable lack of PPE and wider safety measures. People being deported are transported in packed vans, often handcuffed to escorts to aircrafts where they then are chained to their seats and to two guards. Given that black and minority ethnic people have contracted and died of covid disproportionately, this is irresponsible to put people who are at high risk already, in this position.

Tearing parents apart from loved ones including children is inhumane and causes distress and trauma to children with no regard for the human rights of children.

The fast turnaround of deportations, leaves inadequate time to access legal advice and representation which has been made worse because access to the computer rooms at detention centres have been closed or with limited access. There have also been reports of fax machines and computers not working meaning that people detained cannot communicate with legal representatives.

Once deported, they can face destitution trauma and persecution impacting on physical and mental health. We know that some people have sadly been killed or taken their own lives subsequently.

I am also concerned that the Windrush Lessons Learned recommendations are yet to be implemented, over a year since publication. The report found the Home Office to be institutionally ignorant of racism. It is irresponsible to target black and minority ethnic people for deportation when no lessons have been learned.

I am asking that you take urgent action, including writing to the Home Secretary calling for these flights to be cancelled and to call for an end to charter flight mass deportations.

Regards,

[Your Name]

Please add your full postal address to confirm you are a constituent.

Find your MP here: https://www.theyworkforyou.com/