Record Deportation of Nigerians and Ghanaians from the UK

 

On Friday, October 18, a significant number of Nigerians and Ghanaians were deported from the United Kingdom on a single flight, with 44 individuals forcibly removed, according to the Home Office. This incident marks a notable increase in immigration enforcement and deportations, with the Home Office describing it as part of a "major surge" in their activities since Labour came to power.

Since the new government took office, approximately 3,600 people have been returned to their home countries, which includes about 200 deported to Brazil and 46 sent back to Vietnam and Timor Leste. Regular deportation flights to Albania, Lithuania, and Romania are also part of this initiative.

Deportation flights to Nigeria and Ghana are infrequent, with only four such flights recorded since 2020, and previous flights had significantly fewer individuals onboard, with numbers ranging from six to 21. The recent flight saw more than double that number.

The deportation news coincides with reports that any asylum seekers arriving in Diego Garcia before the finalization of a treaty between the UK and Mauritius regarding the Chagos Islands will be sent to Saint Helena, a British territory in the remote Atlantic Ocean.

While detained at the Brook House immigration removal center near Gatwick, one Nigerian detainee attempted suicide, leaving his cellmate deeply traumatized. Another individual, who had been in the UK for 15 years as an asylum seeker without a criminal record, expressed frustration over the Home Office's refusal to grant his claim.

Fizza Qureshi, CEO of the Migrants’ Rights Network, criticized the deportations as cruel, emphasizing the rapid, secretive nature of the process and the lack of access to legal support for those affected. She quoted a detainee who stated, “The Home Office is playing politics with people’s lives. We have not done anything wrong other than cry for help.”

In response, a Home Office spokesperson reaffirmed their commitment to enforcing immigration rules, noting that over 3,600 individuals had been returned in the first two months of the new government.