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Immigrant X Getting ready for tonights action. First stage of the plan seems to be in place.

Immigrant X Will start tweeting the action in a little while once we are sure we are on track and everyone is in place.

Immigrant X Tonight’s action will be against a deportation charter flight.

Immigrant X This is how it goes. This is our next action and let’s hope we succeed.

Immigrant X A law that is unjust should be disobeyed through ingenuity and creativity not by violence or hurt those we oppose or seek to help.

Immigrant X Immigrant X is our communication and plan for a better future

Immigrant X We Blog, Tweet and use social media to push our ideas. Immigrant X is faction.

Immigrant X All you have to do to see Immigrant X is open your eyes and see those standing in the shadows and hear a whisper that injustice reigns.

Immigrant X Here are our previous Actions http://www.immigrantx.org/category/actions/ … … and our Manifesto http://www.immigrantx.org/manifesto/

Immigrant X Here is last week action on Disrupting a Commercial Deportation Flight http://www.immigrantx.org/deportation-flight/ … … with our Immigrant X action.

Immigrant X So this is our next action. It is probably a one off and not replicable.

Immigrant X Once again the plan is simple and maybe a little too simple and could easily be derailed.

Immigrant X The plan hinges on the incompetence of the immigration department. As simple as that!

Immigrant X Tonight’s charter flight will try to forcibly remove 100 “failed” asylum seekers & people being “administratively” deported from the country

Immigrant X Some have been in detention years enduring the withering assault of system against their life’s story.

Immigrant X This system with its disbelieving bureaucracy used to seed doubt & blame not support to those who escaped violence, intolerance and war.

Immigrant X Detention also awaited those who came for a better life and the idea that they and their families could improve their lot.

Immigrant X Some were picked up and locked in detention on arrival. Others were going to work & stopped because they looked foreign by the border police

Immigrant X Some got caught for a minor traffic infringement and their license and ID just didn’t pass the citizens-hip test.

Immigrant X Whatever the reason for removal or deportation, as Immigrant X we believe it is an injustice.

Immigrant X We believe where ever you live on this earth you’ve the same rights as all those who live in your community no matter how or why you came.

Immigrant X We have been working with Eva over the last few weeks coming up with ideas on how to disrupt the charters.

Immigrant X Eva is working int he deportation unit at one of the main airports.

Immigrant X There are actually very few ideas we could come up with.

Immigrant X Once we step foot inside the perimeter of an airport we are undertaking a high risk action.

Immigrant X So we avoided this option and looked at the weak points of the operation from the gates of the detention center to the gates of the airport.

Immigrant X We figured the weakest link are the bus companies that transport detainees from the immigration detention centers to the airport.

Immigrant X Details of the pickoff and drop-off points for the buses are given at the last moment.

Immigrant X Bus companies are notified 24 hrs a deportation charter flight.

Immigrant X The exact route is only given 2 hours before the pickup of deportees to the drivers.

Immigrant X This is done to limit communication to prevent activist groups from the disrupting a flight and the media reporting on the deportation.

Immigrant X This however will help our strategy tonight.

Immigrant X The charter flights by are booked & planned in the city immigration department office as these require a specialist to sign off the charter.

Immigrant X The notice to the bus companies in contrast is given from the main international airport deportation unit.

Immigrant X This contract is for much less cash and not seen as critical as the flight charter.

Immigrant X Hence the job is given to the less qualified staff of the deportation unit in the airport where Eva works.

Immigrant X Sorry was having trouble with our connection.

Immigrant X Many of the flights depart from regional airports but the main international airport

Immigrant X deportation Unit is in charge of planning getting the deportees to their flight on time.

Immigrant X Many of the processes for this unit are centered around the main immigration database and system.

Immigrant X Many process not captured by this system. These are documented in the dogs breakfast that is the deportation unit common network drive.

Immigrant X Eva has told us that the common drive, the G: drive is used by all and sundry with no order or security.

Immigrant X I think we might be being jammed here. Let’s see how the we go with our connection. It is pretty slow.

Immigrant X The order to the bus company is sent as an unsigned word document by email to the bus company.

Immigrant X The document is saved over, time and time again and it Is basically impossible to tell who last edited the document.

Immigrant X This document is also saved in anyone of 4 locations that is the morass of the common drive.

Immigrant X Tonight will not be the first time due to an administrative error that the buses will be sent to the wrong airport.

Immigrant X That is part 1 of our plan. Eva changed the destination on the form this afternoon. We think this will not be picked up.

Immigrant X The form was prepared by the admin in the department office and saved for use later, to be sent just before the admin’s day finishes.

Immigrant X It is unlikely he will pick up the error.

Immigrant X Part 2 of the plan a friend of ours Russell who has a heavy vehicle license and who has worked as bus driver previously.

Immigrant X He has signed up with temp agency that is used by the bus company that will be used tonight for the deportation.

Immigrant X Over the last two weeks he has been hired a few times by this company.

Immigrant X The deportation flights are very unpopular with the bus drivers for obvious reasons and this gig is easy to pick up.

Immigrant X Russell has already been notified he is needed for a job tonight that will last between 3-5 hours.

Immigrant X He has left for the depot and should be arriving in a while at one of the deportation centers

Immigrant X Eva is on duty tonight and was cc’d in the mail to the bus company and has confirmed they have the wrong destination.

Immigrant X Russell informed us he is on the move he will let us know when he reaches the detention center in about 30 minutes.

Immigrant X Russell says he will be at the centre in 15 minutes or so instead of 30.

Immigrant X In the process of deportation deportees are often subjected physical and mental abuse at the hands of poorly trained guards.

Immigrant X Restraint and sedation are routinely used on people who are “perceived” to be a risk.

Immigrant X The risk assessment however is often arbitrary and incompetently done.

Immigrant X Deportation is often due to a procedural error and enacted on people who just should not be deported according the law (as abysmal as it is)

Immigrant X And who is being deported today? this is what we know from Eva.

Immigrant X A number of young men who came here as minors and once they turned 18 they were fair game for the brutality of the immigration system.

Immigrant X Some on the flight are leaving partners and children who are resident in the country.

Immigrant X Some on the flight are being sent back to where they have no family or means of supporting themselves once they arrive.

Immigrant X Some on the flight are just plain terrified they know there life is in danger upon return.

Immigrant X Many to be deported on the flight are spent, fed-up, tired and frustrated. This naturally causes a great deal of tension.

Immigrant X To top all of this off is the often poorly trained escorts prone to force instead of reason & escalate a situation instead of restoring calm

Immigrant X Likely the escorts will enjoy their flight seeing it as a social occasional to tell bawdy jokes.

Immigrant X Escorts will be annoyed at any interruption by a derportee, asking for the fulfillment of 1 of their dwindling rights; like going to the WC.

Immigrant X Russel is still a few minutes away from the immigration detemtion centre.

Immigrant X Russell has now arrived at the center he is picking up 23 passengers who will be deported tonight.

Immigrant X Russell is texting us when he gets the chance. The bus is now empty and the escorts and deportees will start moving onto the bus soon.

Immigrant X There will be three buses in all. Two picking up detainees from other detention centers in the region.

Immigrant X Russell says the deportees are approaching the bus two of the passengers are in handcuffs.

Immigrant X Russell asks the escort why and told that the detainee tried to hurt himself.

Immigrant X Russell has to be a bit careful here with his texting so he doesn’t suspicion

Immigrant X Escorts on the bus are being rough and abusive and you can tell that this is not going down well with the deportees.

Immigrant X We are sending the buses to the main airport. The reason is that the security checks are longer and multi-staged.

Immigrant X If the bus gets through more than one stage of the security barriers there will be an extra 20 minutes added to the journey time.

Immigrant X We are trying to target a 4 hour delay for the flight. If we acheive the charter will likely need to change crew.

Immigrant X By sending the buses to the wrong destination and if they arrive at the wrong airport we have casued a two hour delay already.

Immigrant X The airport they should be going to is 2 hours away from the main international airport where Eva is sta-tioned.

Immigrant X The buses tonight are heading towards Evaand she may if needed be able to add to the confusion to buy time.

Immigrant X Hopefully this will not be necessary and the general sloppiness and incompetence of the staff assigned to the deportation will be enough.

Immigrant X Russell says he is on his way to the airport now and will send us a message if the destination changes.

Immigrant X Will update you in half an hour or so when Russells bus is getting closer to the airport.

Immigrant X All is quiet from Eva’s end. The buses are headed in the wrong direction and no one has picked up the error. We have a 1+ hour delay already

Immigrant X Text from Russell says he is still on track.

Immigrant X Eva texting also has no one picking up the buses going to the wrong destinaton from border police.

Immigrant X The bus is no 1 and 1/2 hours away from its real destination. Hopefully it will arrive at the wrong airport in 1/2 an hour.

Immigrant X Charter flights are punitive. In many cases the numbers are just made up at the last moment.

Immigrant X Once someone is removed from the country it is a fait accompli, an appeal will no longer proceed or be heard.

Immigrant X Removals and deportation tear families and communities apart.

Immigrant X The detention and deportation structures are there for the show, to be a deterrent not to serve our com-munities.

Immigrant X We are now 45 minutes into the journey. All three buses are on route to the international airport, the wrong destination.

Immigrant X No one has picked it up that the plane is now landed and waiting for the buses that are heading the wrong way.

Immigrant X This can happen because communication between the busses & deportation unit in the airport has happened but once just to confirm they left.

Immigrant X The buses are now 1 hour 45 minutes away from their real destination. We are getting to our 4 hour delay target.

Immigrant X Deportation occurs where the country of destination accepts the deportee being removed and repatriated.

Immigrant X Very often the government uses high level talks to “convince” countries of the developing world to accept returnees.

Immigrant X This is often with done with incentives at a regional, national and sometimes a very “local” level.

Immigrant X Diaspora’s in the country don’t support in general forced removals and diplomatic staff usually don’t want any involvement in removals.

Immigrant X Eva confirmed on the buses tonight are reserves.

Immigrant X The immigration police also use reserves just in case a few people can’t be removed at the last minute,

Immigrant X This is to maximise the number of people on a flight deported. Accompanying the deportees will be around 50+ escorts for security.

Immigrant X In reality deportation charter flights are not more cost effective just better hiddent and not open to scrutiny as commercial deportations.

Immigrant X Russell and Eva both confirm arrival of the buses. We are now upto a 2 hour + delay.

Immigrant X The buses have been waved through the first security check. Eva will now hear a lot of comms on what is going on.

Immigrant X They are now waiting to enter a holding area in the private area of the airport.

Immigrant X Deportation flights take off normally from the private sections of airports. Security is tight.

Immigrant X Charter companies undertaking deportation flights do not advertise the fact they take these flights.

Immigrant X The buses will wait 15 minutes or so before getting clearance before entering the next stage of the security perimeter.

Immigrant X Still the deportation unit supervisor has not put 2 & 2 together that the chartered plane is at another airport.

Immigrant X Basic procedural competence is not one of this guy’s strong points.

Immigrant X If we get through the next security barrier it will be 1/2 an hour plus to get back out of the airport back on the road.

Immigrant X We have now have racked up a sihnificant delay. We think we are getting to the three hour mark.

Immigrant X Eva confirms they are waved throught eh second security check.

Immigrant X Russell has some space now to give us some updates on what is occuring on the bus.

Immigrant X There is a lot of talk now. People have now been in the bus for 2 hours. Just the basic request to go to the toilet is being refused.

Immigrant X The escorts are treating this simple request with derision. It creates an extra hasle for the escorts.

Immigrant X Many on the bus are extremely upset and panicked at the thought of being returned. Not all but some escorts see this as an act.

Immigrant X Russell is getting quite jumpy and uncomfortable being part of this bus trip.

Immigrant X Many on the bus are quite young very early twenties who have not even seen their place of birth since they were quite young.

Immigrant X The 3 buses are now in a small holding area between two gates at the front and back. Russell’s bus is in the rear.

Immigrant X The deportation unit supervisor has finally woken up that the buses are not at the same airport as the chartered plane.

Immigrant X Eva is reporting lots of communication now, trying to figure out where the plane is.

Immigrant X Eva is reporting they are trying to contact the contracting officer from the city office on his after hours number but he is not picking up.

Immigrant X Eva’s supervisor is now delving into the common network drive to find the bus travel notice. Now he is really confused.

Immigrant X They are now contacting other airports to check if they happen to have the plane.

Immigrant X The buses are staying put as they don’t know which airport to leave to.

Immigrant X Eva is confident it will take 20 minutes or so to figure out where to go.

Immigrant X They need confirmation from the city on duty officer before they can move to the correct airport.

Immigrant X We are now hitting a 3 + hour delay on the flight. If we get to 4 the crew will likely have to be changed.

Immigrant X The flight should have been departing in a short while. We have racked up such a substantial it is still possible it could leave.

Immigrant X We need another half or or more delay on the flight to be sure.

Immigrant X Eva has said finally the city duty officer has pciked up the phone and confirms the correct destination

Immigrant X The buses need to turn around. We have clocked up a combined delay of 3 hours and 20 minutes.

Immigrant X This is just not enough it is still possible that the flight takes place.

Immigrant X Russell has decided to improvise.

Immigrant X He’s the last bus and he has decided to do an unconventional 3 point turn instead of waiting for the a gate to open where he can easily turn

Immigrant X He has told the airport security staff he is sick of waiting and wants to turn around.

Immigrant X Instead of waiting for clearance into a restricted area where he could easily turn around.

Immigrant X He did this knowing the 3 point turn is impossible.

Immigrant X He will wedge the bus or take at least half an hour is going 1cm forward then backwards at a time.

Immigrant X The escorts on the bus are happy with Russell’s initiative; Eva can hear this on the internal radio comms.

Immigrant X If Russell can rack up another half hour delay the charter company will have to start calling for another crew.

Immigrant X The max time a crew can be in duty is 13 hours. They have now likely been at the airport for 2 hours and they have a 8-9 hour flight ahead.

Immigrant X The airport security and escorts on the bus are no longer so thrilled with Russell’s iniative. He is now further into his maneuver.

Immigrant X The escorts are starting to realise that the turn in such a limited space was actually a pretty dumb idea.

Immigrant X Every movement backwards and forwards is getting smaller and smaller.

Immigrant X It was always unlikely the 12 me-ter bus would be able to turn around in a 12.5m alley.

Immigrant X Russell is stuck and as the last bus in the convoy everyone else is stuck. Brilliant work!

Immigrant X The radio comms is getting really abusive towards Russell from airport security and the deportation unit.

Immigrant X He is well and truly stuck after 10 minutes of intricate work. The three point turn in the end amassed probably more than 200 maneuvers.

Immigrant X The escorts and other drivers are really getting stuck into Russell. He has now had enough and has walked off the bus.

Immigrant X Eva can hear the whole thing on the radio. Now there is real panic in the deportation unit. This is a real screw up.

Immigrant X Russel has told security he has quit his job and wants to get out of the airport and back home.

Immigrant X Airport security is trying to talk him around according to Eva.

Immigrant X Eva is now texting that her supervisor is now about to explode. The bus company is being told to get another bus and driver.

Immigrant X The entrance in to the private area of the airport is now also blocked which airport security is really pissed off at.

Immigrant X There is now a lot of angry comms between the deportation unit and airport security.

Immigrant X The other buses will have to travel about twenty minutes to get out of the airport, then wait another 20 min to get through security check.

Immigrant X The bus company has been informed but they won’t be able to get a bus to the location with driver for another hour

Immigrant X We think there is no way now the charter can leave with the crew currently on board.

Immigrant X The supervisor is now informing the city duty officer of the delay. He now has to contact the charter company to explain the situation.

Immigrant X Eva confirmed the Charter is now trying to find a crew now. Very unlikely now we are getting close to midnight.

Immigrant X We think this is really geting to the end. The time is ticking and the charter crew has to be taken off the flight.

Immigrant X Russell is talking with us now.

Immigrant X He described the situation on board as really tense and caustic. Russell was getting a lot of abuse from the escorts in the end.

Immigrant X The situation also for the deportees was getting worse as the guards were also getting stressed.

Immigrant X Russell actually would have left anyway as he started to feel unsafe on the bus and appalled by the treatment of the deportees.

Immigrant X We got it. Eva’s supervisor has been informed the charter company can’t come up with a fresh crew until the morning.

Immigrant X Eva has confirmed the charter is cancelled.

Immigrant X Russell may never get a job again with this bus company but we will happily work with him again. Great work by Eva and Russell tonight.

Immigrant X This action is not really replicable not like our action on commercial flights: http://www.immigrantx.org/deportation-flight/ …

Immigrant X That’s it for tonight. So we will sign off the usual.

Immigrant X A law that is unjust should be disobeyed through ingenuity and creativity not by violence or hurt those we oppose or seek to help.

Immigrant X Immigrant X is our communication and plan for a better future