UK Deports 44 Ghanaians and Nigerians in a Single Flight Amid Immigration Crackdown

UK Deports 44 Ghanaians and Nigerians in a Single Flight Amid Immigration Crackdown

The UK Home Office confirmed on Friday that 44 Ghanaians and Nigerians were deported to their home countries on a single flight, as part of the government’s heightened immigration enforcement efforts. This action is part of a “major surge” in deportations and returns, according to reports from The Guardian.

Since the Labour government took office in July, approximately 3,600 individuals have been deported to various countries. This includes around 200 people sent to Brazil and 46 deported to Vietnam and Timor Leste. Regular deportation flights have also been carried out to Albania, Lithuania, and Romania.

However, flights to Nigeria and Ghana are relatively rare, with only four recorded since 2020, based on data obtained under freedom of information regulations.

The deportations coincided with news about plans to transfer any asylum seekers arriving in Diego Garcia to Saint Helena, a remote British territory in the Atlantic Ocean, once the Chagos Islands are handed back to Mauritius.

Fizza Qureshi, CEO of the Migrants’ Rights Network, who was in touch with several deportees before their departure, expressed outrage at the process. “We are extremely shocked at the cruelty of these deportations, especially given the speed, secrecy, and lack of access to legal support,” she said. One deportee remarked, “The Home Office is playing politics with people’s lives. We have done nothing wrong but ask for help.”

A Home Office spokesperson reiterated the government’s stance, stating, “We have already started executing a significant increase in immigration enforcement and returns to remove those who have no legal right to remain in the UK, with over 3,600 deportations carried out in the first two months under the new government.”