UK Deports 3600 Ghanaians and Nigerians Back Home
It is worrying to write about the fact that our brothers in Ghana and Nigeria are being deported from the UK today
The deportation of 44 Nigerians and Ghanaians from the UK marks a new high in the immigration enforcement policy of the country.
The deportation operation, which occurred on October 18, 2024, is claimed to have been the most extensive single deportation flight of these two nationalities in recent years, reflecting a wider crackdown on illegal immigration initiated by the new Labour government .
The context of the deportation
The UK Home Office said the deportation was part of a wider effort to ramp up immigration enforcement.
An estimated 3,600 have been transported to various countries since the Labour administration assumed power in July 2024-the number on this flight by far eclipses the previous flights completed.
Previous flights to Nigeria and Ghana had much smaller numbers, ranging from six to 21 people.
The most recent number brought more than double the amount for one flight alone, totaling 126
Legal concerns
Legal and humanitarian controversies have mounted over this deportation.
Indeed, many were reportedly asylum as seekers who had lived in the UK for many years: “One man claimed he was an asylum claimant for 15 years, with no crime record”. Arguably, his claim became refused by the Home Office.
Another man recounted his traumatic experience of being trafficked to begin with-scarred from the abuses he had to endure-but was refused too, similarly 146.
Fizza Qureshi, Chief Executive of the Migrants’ Rights Network, warned against “the speed and secrecy of the deportation process,” noting that “many detainees did not have access to legal representation.”
She explained that individuals receiving this treatment “have not committed any wrongdoing other than seeking help,” highlighting how abhorrently they were being turned back
It is a mass deportation that takes place at a time when there are huge turns of events regarding immigration policy in the UK.
Moreover, the government has to deal with an unprecedented quantity of asylum seekers who reach its shores in small boats across the English Channel, reported to be more than 28,000 this year alone.
This backdrop has put stricter measures in place to make the application of immigration laws more effective.
There are also pressing matters relating to asylum seekers arriving on Diego Garcia, administered by the UK in the Indian Ocean.
A new treaty with Mauritius relating to the Chagos Islands may have implications for the future processing and resettlement of this group 23.
