Ten days ago, I watched in despair as almost 20 women
were forcibly taken to Stansted airport to be removed from the UK aboard a bus
branded ‘Just Go!’. I am unable to get the image out of my mind.
They were driven from Yarl’s Wood immigration detention centre near Bedford to join a mass deportation of 55
Nigerians.
It was disturbing that the UK Border Agency (UKBA) used a coach plastered in ‘Just go!’ stickers when deporting
people.
I knew some on the women on the flight. One had lived in the UK for over 20
years. Now most will be on the street in Lagos with nowhere to go, few
belongings and their lives in tatters.
The bus company ‘JustGo’ claims to
offer “interesting and rewarding excursions” to a range of locations in the UK
and Europe. One-way travel to Nigeria is not advertised.
Mass deportations to Nigeria occur bi-monthly. The UKBA refers to these
collective expulsions as ‘Operation Majestic’. Planes typically leave London
late at night with two private guards flanking each detainee.
While removal decisions are made by the Government and courts, the logistics of
forcibly deporting people are handled by an army of private companies. I
recorded the involvement of at least seven other private contractors during the
deportation. The state’s monopoly on
violence has been farmed out to gangs of eager mercenaries.
The coach from Yarl’s Wood was tailed by three ‘Reliance’ prison vans. On arrival at Stansted, the deportation
convoy entered the ‘Inflite Jet Centre’,
an exclusive terminal for private aircraft. The women were kept waiting on the
coach for several hours inside a fenced compound while corporate executives
arrived in luxury limousines and sped through a nearby entrance to board VIP
flights. Four more coaches were visible inside the compound, two from ‘WH Tours’, one from ‘Woodcock Coaches’ and the one from ‘Just Go!’
Detention centres are run by private
contractors, such as Serco, G4S and GEO. The only evidence of state
involvement in the expulsion was a single Ford Focus with a small ‘UKBA’ sticker on the door.
After watching the reality of a mass deportation, it's even harder to swallow
the right-wing claim that ‘migrants take our jobs’. What I saw was hundreds of
burly white men being employed to kick out half as many black people. They
expelled them from a country of relative economic prosperity to one riddled
with severe poverty. Several large companies oversaw the process. Many of them
are headquartered in the UK. I saw the deportation industry at work – it’s a
major, profitable business venture.
Earlier that day, angry protests had erupted outside the Nigerian High Commission
as activists denounced Nigerian government complicity in forced removals of
immigration prisoners.
The demonstration had been called for by some of the women detained at Yarl’s
Wood. They had hoped that an eleventh hour protest would shame diplomatic staff
into withdrawing their consent for the deportation. Nigerian officials are
understood to assist British authorities with mass deportations by issuing
travel documents in return for cash payments and other sweeteners.
I spoke to a Nigerian bystander outside the High Commission - she had
first-hand experience of a similar mass deportation from Ireland to Nigeria.
She described the Nigerian government as “useless,” adding that they: “Allow it
to happen.”
Though no resistance was reported inside Yarl’s Wood on this occasion, one of
the asylum-seekers facing deportation said: “Everyone is scared…it’s just too much.”
Yarl’s Wood managers allegedly warned every detainee set to be removed that
resistance would be “dealt with harshly”.
Mass deportation flights have become a preferred way of removing migrants to
poorer and more dangerous areas en masse.
They are intended to save money and keep deportations outside the public gaze.
The emphasis of mass deportations is on filling the flight and getting rid of as
many, as quickly as possible.
Five women were given last-minute reprieves when they were removed from the airport
bound coaches at Yarl’s Wood.
One detainee says she believes the treatment of people like her has deteriorated since David Cameron’s call at the
Conservative party conference for members of the public to denounce those
suspected of being in the UK illegally to the authorities. “They don’t want us
here – they are being racist,” she said.
- This deportation was on 26th October 2011 from London, UK to Lagos, Nigeria.
- Reporting by an activist from SOAS Detainee Support Group: [email protected]
- More info on deportation charter flights can be found on: stopdeportations.wordpress.com
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