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

Follow us on Twitter @baracuk  and on instagram @baracukoriginal for updates and actions to take.

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/

Artwork credit: Zita Holbourne