Forced Deportations

The Times has more on the forced deportation of Zimbabweans from the UK:

Immigration officials are trapping Zimbabwean couples and forcibly deporting them when they turn up for their wedding ceremonies….

A number of couples who were told that they had to retake their vows in a British register office to prove that they were married have been arrested with their guests and sent back to Harare within hours.

Lawyers claim that before they can get to court to fight their cases, these asylum-seekers have already been expelled. One woman, who gave her name only as Setimbile, was given a date for her register office ceremony in London last month, only to find half a dozen immigration officials waiting for her on the day.

The 26-year-old was not allowed to speak to the man she had married two years earlier in Zimbabwe. She was taken away in handcuffs and flown out within 48 hours. Her family does not know what has happened to her since.

One guest who escaped the wedding raid told how several other members of the family were also arrested. “We followed the Home Office order to prove they were genuinely married, and it was a trap.”

Half a dozen couples who showed up for weddings in Hatfield, Reading and London have been victims of this “sting” by immigration officials.

A spokesman for the Zimbabwe Community Association said: “It is a perfect chance to make sure that you get members of two families in the same place, but is a despicable trick.”

Britain is speeding up the enforced return of failed Zimbabwean asylum-seekers.

The revelation came as the hunger strike by Zimbabweans in Home Office detention spread to more removal centres. A senior immigration official said last night that the numbers taking part had doubled.

The Home Office refused to give precise numbers, though there are claims that staff at some centres are trying to force detainees to break their fast.

Detainees told The Times last night that they have been threatened by staff that if they continue the protest they will be the first to be deported.

Before Jack Straw makes more grandiose speeches about the evil nature of Mugabe’s regime, he should perhaps have a word with his cabinet colleague in the Home Office.