Asylum: UK Deports 44 Nigerians, Ghanaians in Single Flight.
In a record-breaking deportation flight, 44 Nigerians and Ghanaians were forcibly removed from the UK on Friday, marking a significant surge in immigration enforcement.
According to The Guardian.com/uk The Home Office confirmed the action as part of a broader crackdown on immigration, which has seen the deportation of over 3,600 people since the Labour government came to power in July.
This comes as news emerges that asylum seekers arriving at Diego Garcia, a UK-administered island, before the finalization of a treaty between the UK and Mauritius will be relocated to Saint Helena, a British territory in the Atlantic.Deportation flights to Nigeria and Ghana are relatively rare, the report said. Citing data obtained under the freedom of information rules, the newspaper reported that there have been only four such deportation flights since 2020. Each of such flights involved six, seven, 16 and 21 deportees respectively, until Friday’s flight, which had more than double the highest that had been removed on a single flight.
The Home Office confirmed that there is a “major surge” in immigration enforcement and returns activities.
“We have already begun delivering a major surge in immigration enforcement and returns activity to remove people with no right to be in the UK and ensure the rules are respected and enforced, with over 3,600 returned in the first two months of the new government,” The Guardian quoted a spokesperson for the Home Office as saying.
The Guardian interviewed four Nigerian men held at Brook House immigration removal centre near Gatwick before their deportation. One of them, who had been in the UK for 15 years seeking asylum, expressed his distress: “I have no criminal record, but the Home Office has refused my claim.” Another man revealed he had been a victim of trafficking and bore torture scars, yet his asylum claim had also been rejected.
Fizza Qureshi, the chief executive of Migrants’ Rights Network, condemned the deportations, citing the speed, secrecy, and lack of legal support. She quoted a detainee who said, “The Home Office is playing politics with people’s lives. We have not done anything wrong other than cry for help.”
A Home Office spokesperson defended the move, stating that the government is committed to enforcing immigration rules and ensuring that people without legal rights to remain in the UK are returned.
