UK to deport more Jamaicans on November 10

Judana Murphy/Gleaner Writer

The United Kingdom (UK) is arranging a deportation flight to Jamaica, scheduled for November 10.

This will be the second flight in three months and the fourth since the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Chairman of the Windrush National Organisation, Dr Desmond Jaddoo, told The Gleaner that it is not yet known how many people will be deported. 

On August 11, seven Jamaicans were deported aboard a UK Home Office charter plane.

Ninety people were originally earmarked for deportation.

Statistics from the Home Office show that 140 Jamaicans with criminal convictions were deported on six flights between 2016 and 2021.

Jaddoo said some charter flights have left the UK “virtually empty” and at “extreme cost” to British taxpayers. 

"We understand the expense came to about a quarter of a million pounds. If there are late legal challenges and that reduces the number of people on a flight it's solely because there are flaws in the decision-making processes, otherwise judges would not be intervening and taking people off flights,” he said of the August 11 flight.

Further, he said statistics show that the numbers have fallen on every successive flight since a plane left on September 7, 2016 with 42 people on board.

During the period, the only year there was more than one flight was 2020, with 17 people removed in February and 13 in December.

Jaddoo also raised concern about deportation charter flights amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

At the time of the last flight to Jamaica, the number of deportees was drastically reduced because of an outbreak of COVID at one of the detention centres.

"When you look at the bigger picture it begs the question of why deportation flights are flying during the pandemic,” he said.

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