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An agreement was quietly reached between the Home Office and Jamaica not to expel people who came to the UK as children on a controversial charter flight to the Caribbean island this week, its high commissioner said.
Seth Ramocan told The Guardian that following diplomatic proposals to the Home Office, officials agreed not to deport Jamaicans who came to Britain under the age of 12. The Interior Ministry declined to comment and there have been no public announcements.
It comes after 82 black public figures, including author Bernardine Evaristo, model Naomi Campbell and historian David Olusoga, urged airlines not to carry up to 50 Jamaicans on the Home Office deportation flight scheduled for Wednesday.
Home Office charter flights are a common way of expelling those classified as having no right to stay, even due to certain serious criminal convictions. The last charter flight to Jamaica was in February; many others who had to fly had their deportation stopped at 11 o’clock due to legal action.
Charter flights to Jamaica are particularly controversial because of the Windrush scandal and because some of those destined for deportation came to the UK as children and had families there.
In 2018, a report commissioned by the Home Office for former prisons and probation ombudsman Stephen Shaw called for a new approach to the policy of detaining and expelling people who had committed crimes but were living most of their lives. lives in Britain. The Interior Ministry has not implemented the recommendation.
But Ramocan said the high commission had made arrangements before Wednesday’s charter flight and that an agreement had been reached not to deport those who arrived as young children.
“It’s not the law, it’s a kind of understanding,” he said. “They have agreed to have an age limit. Not that the law has changed in any way. It is a consideration, a request that has been granted. We really appreciate the level of cooperation and consideration that was given to the representations we made to the Ministry of the Interior. “
Karen Doyle of the campaign group Movement For Justice has analyzed the backgrounds of deportees on charter flights. He said that of a sample of 20 cases that were due to fly to Jamaica on Wednesday, it is notable that none reached the UK before the age of 12.
Doyle said: “With previous flights, the proportion that came here as children was always much higher. This is a welcome change and something that has been fought for for many years. But the secret that surrounds it is haunting. A back room offer only for this flight is not acceptable. The change must apply to all those who came as children regardless of their country of origin ”.
Lib Dem’s home affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael said “there should be no need for the Jamaican government to force the Home Office to act.” “This kind of closed-door deal is not a way to formulate policy on such an important issue,” he said.
Bella Sankey, Director of Detention Action, said: “If true, this agreement marks progress in reforming our barbaric deportation system, but why secrecy? To be effective, this rule must be embodied in law so that it can provide protection in practice and must apply equally to all those arriving in the UK under the age of 18, no matter where they came from. “
A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said: “We do not apologize for trying to eliminate dangerous foreign criminals in order to maintain the safety of the public. Every week we transfer foreign criminals from the UK to different countries who have no right to be here; this flight is no different. People arrested for this flight include convicted murderers and rapists. “
