The TUC on Tuesday 24 August 2021 called on the UK government to urgently suspend all deportation flights and to address “the miscarriages of justice that have taken place within the immigration system”.
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) which exists to make the working world a better place for everyone with its 5.5 million working people who make up our 48 member unions has made the call comes as more flights are planned by the Home Office for this summer.
The full statement to the Home Office reads: The TUC stands for the rights of all workers from all countries, regardless of immigration status.
The TUC calls on the government to suspend deportation flights until it has fully addressed the miscarriages of justice that have taken place within the immigration system, and to scrap the new Nationality and Borders Bill that would breach international human rights law and increase worker exploitation.
The TUC is concerned that the Home Office does not adequately check the circumstances of those they targeted for deportation. Many have no family, social or financial links with the countries they are due to be deported to, and would be placed at risk of persecution, isolation and poverty.
These deportations are also taking place whilst high levels of Covid-19 infections are still present in immigration detention centres. This puts both residents and staff at risk and jeopardises the health and wellbeing of asylum seekers, those involved in the deportations, and communities in the countries that asylum seekers are deported to.
We are also concerned about the utilisation of commercial airlines and the chartering of specific flights in forced deportations and the impact this has on front-line staff, including ongoing incidents of trauma suffered by those working on flights carrying deportees.
The government’s hardening attitude, indicated by the increased rate of deportations, is reflected in the Nationality and Borders Bill, which proposes that those fleeing persecution will not have the right to claim asylum in the UK. This is a clear breach of the UK’s commitments under the UN Refugee Convention and Protocol. The Bill also seeks to prevent many asylum seekers from being able to claim rights at work which will increase the exploitation of workers.
TUC Congress 2015 asserted the need for the government to ensure there are safe, legal routes for people fleeing persecution to claim protection in the UK, and that the rights of asylum seekers are respected. The TUC echoes the call made by our European trade union partners for governments to uphold the UN Refugee Convention and ensure those fleeing persecution can claim asylum and rights at work.
The Home Secretary Rt. Hon. Priti Patel during her opening speech for the second reading of the Nationality and Borders Bill in the House of Commons said:
The British people are incredulous that it is so hard to remove foreign criminals and failed asylum seekers from our shores.
We are therefore amending the Early Removal Scheme to help us remove foreign criminals from the UK as early as possible.
The British people have also had enough of foreign criminals getting one over on us.
People who are subject to removal action often wait until the very last minute to make a challenge, leading to cancelled flights and delayed removals.
Time and time and time again, we see murderers, rapists and child abusers launching numerous, new, last-minute claims to attempt to try and stay in the UK. This is simply not right.
These last-minute claims and appeals mean criminals can thwart removal from our country.
Even when they are on the tarmac ready to be removed from the UK. We have had too many cases like this and the British people are sick of this.
This will stop the endless cycle of people raising repeated claims to frustrate their removal.
Our approach is of course, fair but firm.
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