The Stansted 15 activists (Photo: Kristian Buus/Getty Images)

Divonte Demetri Fyffe is a 23 year old from Wolverhampton. He’s lived in the UK since he was three years old. But today, the Home Office will handcuff him and force him onto a one-way flight to Jamaica – where he knows no one.

Emma Hughes is a charity worker from London. She gave birth to her son just after Christmas. But today, she could be separated from baby Fen and sent to prison – for trying to prevent the Home Office from deporting 57 people.

While, according to a lawyer, five of the people set to be deported were given a last-minute reprieve, Divonte will be just one of around 45 people to be kicked out of the country today on the first charter deportation flight to Jamaica since the Windrush scandal.



He could be restrained in his seat next to 45 year old Owen Haisley or 22 year old Chevon Brown, both of whom are also set to be on this brutal flight.


Dad and soldier among men deported on first charter flight to Jamaica since Windrush

These men have committed crimes in the past – but they have served their sentences.

If they held UK passports, they would be free to rebuild their lives. But because of their place of birth – regardless of how long they’ve lived here – the government has decided to punish them twice, by exiling them to countries they may never remember having been to.

This is no ordinary approach to migrants – the UK’s policy of chartering flights just to kick people out of the country makes us an international outlier.

The Home Office rounds up dozens of people in the dead of night to fill these flights – including people with ongoing legal claims over their right to stay in the UK. Given that nearly half of all appeals against deportation decisions were successful in 2017, there’s a very real risk of people being sent away unlawfully.

That’s why in March 2017, Emma Hughes was among the 15 brave people who blocked the departure of a charter flight to Nigeria and Ghana.

In December – on Human Rights Day – the Stansted 15 were convicted under a law designed to combat terrorism for carrying out their peaceful protest.

The activists knew the detainees on board included a lesbian woman whose abusive ex-husband had threatened to kill her on arrival in Nigeria, two young men whose families live in the UK, someone whose family had been killed by the Boko Haram militant group, and at least one trafficked person.

Because of the protesters’ brave actions, 11 people are still in the UK and continuing their appeals – and one man has now been granted leave to remain so he can stay with his young family.

Those on today’s flight won’t be allowed that chance to stay here – but if ministers thought the public and politicians were too distracted by Brexit to notice, they couldn’t be more wrong.

Last year the Windrush scandal exposed the government’s cruel treatment of a generation of Commonwealth citizens who were invited to the UK to help rebuild our country after the Second World War.

Our government is tearing families apart in the name of clamping down on immigration.

When the public found out about the onerous ID checks, the raids on homes and businesses, and the punishing indefinite detention many of these people faced, there was a huge backlash against this ‘hostile environment’ approach.



In Parliament yesterday, the Home Secretary Sajid Javid paid lip service to the public outcry, claiming lessons had been learned. But the reality is we still don’t know exactly how many people were affected, not a single pound of compensation has been paid out – and the hostile environment still makes life hell for thousands of people.

Our government is tearing families apart in the name of clamping down on immigration. But they don’t speak for most of us.

I believe the vast majority of the public want a fair, humane immigration system – with each case carefully considered and unnecessary pain avoided.

Most of us know people from around the world as our friends, family, neighbours and colleagues – and we recognise the contributions they make to our society.

But as ministers charter yet another deportation flight, it’s clear they aren’t listening to the public – and that’s exactly why the Stansted 15 felt forced to act.

Today a judge has an opportunity to defy the hostile environment and recognise activists like Emma as the heroes they are. I urge him to take it.

Correction: The title of this piece initially stated that 65 families would be torn apart by today’s deportation and Stansted 15 sentencing. Both this and the article have been updated to reflect the last-minute reprieve five of the people set to be deported have been given.

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