Blatant racism in the immigration system
Afua Hirsch and others are protesting against a planned mass deportation to Jamaica just before Christmas (The Home Office, mired in racism claims, now plans another mass deportation of black people, 27 November). This brought back memories of a Christmas over 20 years ago, when there was another mass deportation of Jamaicans – they had travelled to the UK, intending to visit relatives for Christmas, but were detained on arrival and flown back to Jamaica on Christmas Day.
I visited one of them on Christmas Eve, as a solicitor. Only my client was not sent back, after I got an injunction from a high court judge on Christmas Day. He returned to Jamaica on the day he was supposed to, and subsequently was awarded substantial damages.
The blatant racism in our immigration system towards Jamaicans and other Caribbean citizens is particularly shameful in the light of all that the Windrush generation did for us. It is now even more difficult for lawyers to stop unlawful removals and, when they do so, they are abused and called “activists”. All good speed to them in halting racist breaches of the law by our government.
Louise Christian
London
