Thread by @ukblm

At 2am this morning, in the cover of night, 13 British residents were forcibly put on a deportation flight to Jamaica.
On board were ppl who themselves had been victims of exploitation & trafficking, ppl who left pregnant partners, parents, children, friends, communities behind💔

This violent act has torn families apart unnecessarily and without due process. Our thoughts are with those who suffered loss and face increased hardship at what already is a difficult and distressing time.

The Home Office has been prioritising the deportation of people with criminal records. Targets have been set, and access to justice decimated as many are deported before their appeal. People who have been criminalised are individuals with varied experiences and complex stories.

Prisons lock away poor & marginalised people. Black people are more likely to be criminalised: more likely to be stopped, arrested, charged, convicted, and sentenced to (lengthy) prison terms, and all of this propels those without British citizenship towards deportation.

Racist police and prisons fuel mass deportation flights. This unlawful, unjust and racist double punishment must be challenged.

It’s time we stopped treating the Windrush scandal as an anomaly in the system. Windrush, and these deportations in the dead of the night is the immigration regime operating as it is designed to.

The truth is these flights happen all the time. Flights to Ghana, Nigeria, Albania, Pakistan, Uganda, Jamaica. All using the same narrative, all leaving broken families and communities behind. But while these flights happen all the time so does resistance to them.

In March 2017, 15 people successfully stopped a charter flight from taking off to Ghana and Nigeria. They were eventually charged and found guilty. But they put the unjustness of the system on trial.

This week we saw incredible mobilisation against this flight, with many joining the struggle for the first time. We saw formidable efforts from lawyers, journalists, campaigners from @BARACUK @DetentionAction @followMFJ @nobordersmcr @sdetsup and elsewhere.

Last night we remembered #JimmyMubenga, killed by racist G4S guards, while being deported, and the countless and nameless people who were deported to their deaths. Jimmy Mubenga, and the lives of those affected by this brutal regime are an affront to our conscience.

Let this radicalize you. Let this be a moment to commit to ending charter flights, deportations and the brutality of the UK’s immigration regime once and for all.
#EndDeportations

The fight is far from over. They are already getting ready for the next flights. So let's keep up the fight.

#EndDeportations
#StopThePlane

https://twitter.com/calaisolidarity/status/1334069062712909824?s=20