Urgent court proceedings have been launched to stop the deportation to Jamaica of a man with such severe learning difficulties that a judge ruled that he would “fight to survive” if sent back to his country of birth.
The 34-year-old needs support for the main tasks from his mother and sister and is an alleged victim of exploitation. The case runs parallel to that of Osim Brown, a young autistic man who was deported to Jamaica but won the right to stay in the UK after legal intervention.
He is among dozens facing deportation in Jamaica during a controversial Interior Ministry flight on Wednesday (May 18th). But lawyers filed an urgent lawsuit on his behalf on Friday night, hoping to stop his removal.
The man, who is currently facing deportation, has a prison sentence: he was convicted of possession of a loaded pistol with intent to endanger his life in August 2014 and received a seven-year sentence. However, he testified, saying he was “forced to own the gun” after being told to get in a car with three other men. The sentencing judge ruled that he was not the leader of the crime and said he may have been “exploited by one or the other”. He did not commit any subsequent crimes.
Numerous psychological and other assessments have shown that he has significant learning difficulties, has difficulty reading and writing, and cannot live on his own. There is also a congenital heart defect. A prison psychiatrist found him “easily watery and vulnerable to exploitation.”
A judge who ruled in his favor ruled that he would “fight to survive” in Jamaica because of his learning difficulties. “I am not happy that he will be able to live on his own. His size and learning difficulties make him vulnerable to bullying and abuse, he is a vulnerable person, “the judge added.
His desperate mother tries to stop his deportation. She says her son calls her many times every day since his arrest in a state of panic and confusion.
“People would be shocked to learn that people are treated the way they treat my son,” she said. “People with mental health problems need to be free; to be in custody would be very bad for him. He has always lived with me and cannot live alone. I feel like a fish out of the water without him. Now he’s under arrest, I don’t even want to go into the kitchen to cook because I’ve always cooked everything for him.
She added that she believes he does not fully understand his difficulty and is trying to eat regularly without her support. He was stressed and puzzled by his stay, she said, reminiscent of his prison sentence – which he struggled with all along.
Deportation flights to Jamaica are particularly controversial because some of those who have to fly are descendants of Windrush. Many have been here since childhood and no longer have ties to the country in which they were born. The number of Jamaica’s last four deportation flights has been steadily declining, from 17 to 13 to seven and then to four.
The man is currently being held at an immigration detention center and said that if he is sent to Jamaica, he will not be able to leave the airport because he has nowhere to go.
In the year ending September 2021, the number of forced evictions was at a record low of 2,380, down 35% year-on-year. In 2004, the Ministry of the Interior deported 21,425 people. But there are indications that the Interior Ministry is trying to increase the amount now that pandemic travel restrictions have been lifted, with offshore to Rwanda and the first charter deportation flight to Iraq in many months at the end of the month.
Karen Doyle of the Justice Movement, which is campaigning against deportation in Jamaica, said: “A judge rightly concluded that this man could not survive in Jamaica. Anyone who spends 15 minutes with him can see that. “
She added: “The fact that the Interior Ministry will ruthlessly persecute this vulnerable person is proof of their cruelty. When Priti Patel talks about the deportation of “dangerous criminals,” we know that there are people like Osime Brown, like this man, and countless others like them who are going through this torture.
A spokesman for the Home Office said: “Under the UK Borders Act 2007, the government is obliged to seek to remove non-British nationals convicted of a crime in the UK and sentenced to 12 months or more in prison. Each case is considered on the basis of its individual merits, and we will consider any evidence that suggests that the removal was not appropriate carefully before remedial action is taken. “
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