Mass detention and deportation
01 January 1994
On 21 December 1993, all 190 non-British or EU passengers of the total of 323 on board an aircraft arriving at Gatwick from Jamaica were detained by immigration officers. 57 were held in detention centres for one or more days for further questioning, and 27 were flown back to Jamaica on Christmas Day on a specially chartered flight. The total cost of the deportation (charter flight and in-flight "escorts") was £126,765.
Responding to accusations of arbitrariness and racism, the Home Office claimed that many of those questioned raised suspicions that they intended more than a holiday in Britain. However, Home Office claims that many passengers did not have adequate papers, or had a history of previous refusals were proved false by an investigation by the Independent. Other justifications, such as the suggestion that the cheapness of the tickets attracted poor would-be emigrants rather than genuine visitors, smack of racism themselves. Some of the returned passengers complained that they had been accused by immigration officials of being violent drug dealers.
It was the second time in a week that large numbers of Jamaican passengers from one flight were detained. On 15 December 100 of 353 passengers were detained at Gatwick, and 31 were refused entry.
The concern that Jamaican passengers are being targeted for unduly zealous immigration checks has been around for several years, and statistics on refusal of permission to enter bear out such concern. In 1989 one in 40 Jamaican visitors was refused entry; after a lengthy campaign the refusal rate improved in 1993 to 1 in 67. This compares with a refusal rate of US citizens seeking visits of one in over 2,000. The Asylum and Immigration Appeals Act of 1993 compounded the problem of arbitrary and racist decision-making on the part of immigration officials by removing rights of appeal against refusal of entry for visitors. Those who were refused entry and removed from Britain have no forum in which their true motives can be judged, and with their passports marked, have no realistic prospect of entering the country again.
Independent 24 & 29.12.93; 17 18 & 24.1.94; Times 27.12.93; Commons Hansard written answer 18.1.94.