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Home Office tried to remove second migrant over Christmas period

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Author: Diane Taylor

The Home Office attempted to remove from the UK a second vulnerable migrant over the Christmas period, the Guardian has learned.

The 29-year-old woman, believed to be a victim of trafficking, was scheduled for removal by the Home Office on Boxing Day despite officials accepting she is at high risk of suicide. Her removal was deferred after her lawyer made urgent representations to the Home Office about the trafficking victim’s unfitness to fly.

Her case followed that of the Congolese asylum seeker Otis Bolamu, 38, who was facing forced removal from the UK on Christmas Day.

Bolamu’s removal was also deferred at the 11th hour after the Guardian reported his story, and following a petition launched by his supporters.

The 29-year-old woman was trafficked from South America and detained in Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre after she was found to be working illegally. She disclosed that she had been trafficked and had been forced to hand over her wages to her trafficker, but due to minor inconsistencies in her account the Home Office rejected her trafficking case.

The Home Office accepted that the woman is an “adult at risk” and placed her on constant suicide watch. Officials also placed her in segregation. However, despite the concerns about her mental health she was due to be removed back to her home country on Wednesday.

Medical notes from Yarl’s Wood state that the woman’s “accounts of events are consistent with her scars and she could be a victim of torture”.

She was assessed by an independent psychiatrist who found her to be in a state of “severe mental distress” and “at significant risk of suicide”. He said that she was not fit to fly.

Jamie Bell of Duncan Lewis Solicitors, who is representing both the woman and Bolamu, expressed concern about the Home Office’s practice of removing vulnerable people during the festive season, when they are less likely to be able to access legal advice that could stop their removals.

Bolamu was imprisoned and tortured by government agents in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as a result of his opposition to the government of Joseph Kabila.

He had been living in Home Office accommodation in Swansea and volunteering at an Oxfam shop. He was seized in a dawn raid at about 4am last Thursday and, after first being held in Bridgend, was taken to Brook House immigration removal centre near Gatwick.

Bell said: “The Home Office attempted to remove a potential victim of trafficking and domestic abuse who was segregated due to her active self-harm and suicidal ideation to the country where she was horrendously exploited. She was totally confused and terrified of returning, so much that she planned to take her own life.

“The policy of Christmas removals is one that severely impedes full and entitled representation. We struggle to see how arresting Otis Bolamu in a dawn raid at 4am on 19 December and telling him that he was to be returned on Christmas Day can be considered reasonable and proportionate action. We are very happy removal was deferred and we will have time to work on his further submissions.

“The holidays are supposed to be a time for joy and togetherness, not for the Home Office to take advantage to try to forcibly remove individuals to countries where they are fearful of return.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The UK has a proud history of granting asylum to those who need our protection. All asylum claims lodged in the UK are carefully considered on their individual merits against a background of relevant case law and up-to-date country information.”

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Source: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/dec/27/home-office-remove-migrant-christmas

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