Charter flight deportations: the Wild West of immigration law (Legal Action Group) (24 March 2020)

Public law solicitor Maria Thomas discusses the recent charter flight deportations with Legal Action Group, calling for an end to this legally and morally dubious practice. Maria explains how Duncan Lewis issued proceedings for 14 individuals on 10 February 2020, seeking, first, to prevent anyone from being forcibly removed to Jamaica pending the publication and implementation of the Windrush lessons learned review. As well as arguing that there was a heightened risk to anyone being removed by charter flight, as a result of the intense publicity and media scrutiny surrounding this type of deportation. The generic challenges failed, but seven of our 14 clients were taken off the flight on the basis of individual facts, either by court order or deferred by the secretary of state herself. The remaining seven benefited from the Court of Appeal order, and all 14 are now in the process of preparing their fresh claims. Maria’s key message is that “…deportation by charter flight is unnecessary and unjustifiable, and amounts to mass expulsion, which – for good reason – is unlawful under international law.”