TRINIS FACE DEPORTATION FROM BRITAIN

TRINIDADIANS and Tobagonians who are domiciled in Britain and have been convicted for crimes are facing mass deportation to the land of their birth. 

A major deportation offensive is currently underway, and the British authorities have sent back seven Jamaicans to their homeland.   

Ninety others who were scheduled to be deported to Jamaica sought last-minute injunctions to restrain the British authorities. 

Those matters are currently before the courts. 

The applicants have made various claims, including allegations of mental ill health. 

The seven who were sent back on a chartered aircraft each cost British taxpayers the equivalent of TT $430,000. 

 Of the seven, three were taken from behind prison bars. 

Two were aged 64 and 68, and were reportedly part of the Windrush generation. 

The Windrush generation refers to tens of thousands of Caribbean people who went to Britain to work between 1948 and 1970 in the midst of labour shortages that followed the Second World War. 

 The British Home Office is determined to return as many Caribbean people with criminal convictions. 

It is not known how many Trinis are among those scheduled to be sent back, but Jamaicans reportedly represent the majority. 

Residents of several other countries are also being deported. 

They include Albania, Ghana, Nigeria and Vietnam. 

The British authorities say they are operating under provisions of the Border Act of 2007.