The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade in Jamaica has assured there are no Jamaicans who are of the Windrush generation or their descendants with a legitimate claim to permanent residency or citizenship on the charter flight that was scheduled to arrive in in Kingston on Wednesday.
Some 48 Jamaicans were being deported on Wednesday from the United Kingdom. The initial number was 50, however, two persons were able to get legal assistance and escape immediate deportation.
Government verified no Windrush persons deported
In a statement, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Kamina Johnson Smith said, “We are aware of the personal impact and sensitivities in these circumstances, and therefore over the last months, the Ministry and PICA have worked quietly through the Jamaican High Commission in London to have the British authorities verify that the Charter would not include Windrush persons and that all individuals removed would be persons who have exhausted all legal appeals and remedies”.
Robust research conducted
According to Johnson Smith, the British Home Office stated that it had done “robust research” and “thoroughly checked” the cases as they understood the importance of ensuring that persons subject to deportation were given every opportunity to appeal against their removal from the UK.
Minister Johnson Smith said that “while the final decisions regarding persons who may be removed from foreign countries do not reside with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, our Embassies, High Commissions and Consulates continue to provide guidance to our nationals overseas who may require consular interventions in these circumstances.”
Protests and petitions are in action in the UK to prevent the deportees from being stripped away from their families and left destitute in Jamaica. So far, no progress has been made.
