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A letter from the government solicitors has asked High Court judges to facilitate a mass deportation flight to Baghdad, scheduled for Wednesday, by not considering last-minute Judicial Review applications by detainees due for deportation. [1]

Addressed to the Administrative Court Office at the High Court, the letter by Andrea McMahon of the Treasury Solicitor's Department (TSol), which providers legal services to over 180 government departments and agencies, states that, "Because of the complexities, practicalities and costs involved in arranging charters flights [sic] it is essential that these removals are not disrupted or delayed by large numbers of last minute claims for permission to seek judicial review." [2]

As part of the Week of Action Against the Deportation Machine (1-6 June), various groups around the UK and Europe have organised different events, protests and actions in their area. Here are the ones we've heard about so far.

A small demonstration was today held in Parliament Square, London, calling for an end to the forcible deportation of migrants, the closure of all immigration detention centres, freedom of movement and equal rights for all. The protest was part of the Week of Action Against the Deportation Machine and was attended by different groups that form the Stop Deportation Network.

There is a report and pictures here.

A travel agents contracted by the UK Border Agency to arrange the forcible deportation of migrants has been awarded the title of 'Deportation Profiteer of the Year'. Campaigners from the Stop Deportation Network today presented Carlson Wagonlit Travel with the award at its main offices in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire.

In April 2010, CWT won a government contract to book seats on scheduled and chartered flights for immigration detainees due for deportation. The global booking agency, which specialises in business travel management, has been used by the UKBA to do what campaigners described as a "dirty business" since 2004. In the financial year 2004-5, the contract was worth almost £23million.

On the first day of the Week of Action Against the Deportation Machine, and despite the bad weather conditions, two protests were today held at immigration reporting centres in London, one at Communications House on Old Street from 1-2pm, and the other at Becket House near London Bridge from 3-4pm. The demos were organised by Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! and No Borders London respectively.

A report and photos of the Communications House protest can be found here.
A report and photos of the Becket House protest can be found here.

Stop Deportation, along with other groups in Europe, are proposing a European Week of Action Against the Deportation Machine, with a focus on joint European mass deportation flights and Frontex. The proposed date is the first week of June 2010, 1st-6th.

The idea is that groups and campaigns throughout Europe organise their own direct actions, demos and marches against forcible deportations from European countries, which are increasingly carried out through joint coordinated 'operations' involving private contractors and shadowy agencies like Frontex and the IOM. Protests will inevitably take a variety of shapes but a series of coordinated, decentralised actions and protests would make the message clearer and louder. A week, rather than a day, of action would allow groups more flexibility to do what they want to do.

By trying to widen the scope and diversity of the groups involved, we also want to draw attention to the fact that anti-deportation is not a 'single issue campaign'. People choose or are forced to migrate for a variety or reasons, from wars and armed conflicts fuelled by the arms trade and western interests, through poverty, exploitation, discrimination, gender oppression, domestic and state violence, to climate change.

If your group/campaign would like to get involved, whether through helping coordinate or publicise the week of action or by organising your own action or protest in your local area, please get in touch (needless to say, if you're planning an unaccountable/arrestable action, you probably wouldn't want to get in touch!). The machine is growing and getting stronger, and so must the resistance against it!

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As the government seeks to increase the number and frequency of deportations, it is increasingly relying on specially chartered flights that deport as many as 80 people at a time. In 2009, there were 64 such flights, deporting a total of 1,973 people to Afghanistan, DR Congo, Iraq, Nigeria and other countries. According to official figures, the UK Border Agency (UKBA) spent £8,227,553 on deportation charter flights in the financial year 2008-9, almost double the amount spent in the previous years since charter flights started to be used for mass deportations in 2001. Over the last couple of years, the EU border agency Frontex has also been playing a more active role in organising join European flights, which serves to both save member states money and, by putting deportations in the hands of an EU body, pushes accountability to another level away from national governments and immigration authorities.

"The Government started using charter flights in 2001. It was a response to the fact that some of those being deported realised that if they made a big enough fuss at the airport - if they took off their clothes, for instance, or started biting and spitting - they could delay the process. We found that pilots would then refuse to take the person on the grounds that other passengers would object. So although we still use scheduled flights, we use special flights for individuals who are difficult to remove and might cause trouble." - David Wood, head of Criminality and Detention, UKBA