The family of a man with schizophrenia is suing the Home Office for allegedly deporting him to Jamaica in violation of the law.
Eric Hall, who immigrated to the United Kingdom at age 10, has convictions for theft, drug possession, and possession of an offensive weapon.
The Home Office refutes the family’s assertions that he was sedated before a flight and asserts that his deportation was legal.
It states that the public’s rights take precedence over those of dangerous criminals.
Although born in Jamaica, the 38-year-old immigrated to the United Kingdom with his family in the early 1990s and was granted permanent residency.
In his early teens, he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, and his family and legal team believe that the majority of his past criminal behavior (he has 28 convictions for 55 offenses) was entirely attributable to his poor mental health. They believe that he has never posed a threat to society as a whole and that he continues to be extremely fragile.
Eric’s deportation based on his Jamaican citizenship, argue critics of Home Office policy, mirrors the Windrush scandal. In 2018, several adult offspring of Caribbean migrants who had lived and worked in the United Kingdom for decades were denied the right to remain. The controversy prompted the government to apologize for immigration errors committed by the Home Office against Caribbean migrants and their subsequent mistreatment.
Before his arrest in early March, Eric resided in assisted housing in east London and was cared for by a community mental health team. According to his relatives, he would not have grasped the significance of a letter from the Home Office informing him of his deportation.
Eric was brought to a correctional center where, according to his attorneys and relatives, his mental health deteriorated significantly. He stated again that he had not been served with deportation papers and that he did not believe he was about to be deported.
Home Office deportation flights from the United Kingdom to Jamaica are among the most controversial. Adina Campbell traveled to Jamaica to visit some of the affected individuals.
Eric’s legal team asserts that they were contesting his deportation, but they did not get crucial papers from the Home Office, which must be properly served within three days of a departure.
Holly Stow, an immigration attorney, adds: Medical Justice was ordered to evaluate Eric due to his paranoid schizophrenia; their findings found that he should not have been held and was unfit to fly.
According to the Home Office, foreign criminals and their legal representatives are issued their removal orders before flying.
“Before deportation, all claims are thoroughly reviewed and adjudicated, including, if applicable, through the courts.”
On May 18, Eric was placed on a plane.
Eric is too ill to be interviewed, but we meet his elderly stepfather, Errol Brown, in a rural village in southwest Jamaica. He speaks to us on a mountainous main road, in front of a row of shuttered stores.
“He is ill. He is a sick child. I reside with him and am aware, “Errol adds with trembling palms before wiping away tears from his eyes.
He is currently providing full-time care for Eric at his house in St. Elizabeth Parish, but he claims that his stepson needs medicine and face-to-face mental health support that is not usually available in Jamaica.
Before he departed from the United Kingdom, Eric’s family claims he refused to take any medication, and it appeared that he had been extensively drugged upon his arrival in Jamaica. They claim he did not recognize his stepfather in Kingston, the capital of Jamaica, and had no recollection of how he arrived there.
Errol Brown states, “We heard Eric was in Kingston out of the blue.” “He cannot explain how he arrived here. I have repeatedly inquired. I’m certain he was out of it. He would have needed to be sedated or unconscious. He was unaware of his location and had no idea who I was.”
The Home Office denies Eric’s drug use claim. “Passengers are never sedated on removal flights, and it is incorrect to imply otherwise,” the statement read.
Polly Brown, who lives and works in London and is the mother of Eric, decided to pursue legal action since, according to her, the Home Office was aware of her son’s complex, lengthy medical history. Given the severity of his mental illness, his family believes he is unable to represent himself in court. Mrs. Brown is currently representing her son.
She claims, “He has only his stepfather to care for him in a foreign nation he left when he was 10 years old.”
In her east London apartment, surrounded by family photographs, her mood briefly improves as she recalls her youth.
“He was affectionate. When I would go to school to read his reports, they were usually positive.”
She explains how he was interested in painting and once painted a self-portrait that was placed in the school’s lobby. Outside of school, he was a superb football player for an academy. “His manager once referred to him as the gazelle,” she explains.
Her mind is suddenly thrust back into the present, and these pleasant recollections quickly fade away.
“We are all aware that Jamaica has grown increasingly violent. There are firearms around, and daily murders occur “she asserts “It pains my heart to consider that he is out there and could be killed.
Deportation planes are used to remove both foreign offenders who have completed their sentences in British prisons and other foreign people who have overstayed their visas. Between April 2020 and May 2022, the Home Office conducted 130 forced-return charter flights, averaging £200,000 each trip.
Jamaica comprises around 1% of the total number of required returns by the British government. Between 2019 and 2021, 104 Jamaican citizens were deported.
Errol Brown is concerned about Eric’s health. Care in Jamaica is free for those with the lowest earnings, although public sector facilities are frequently understaffed and lack money and medical supplies. Errol cannot afford private school.
“I took him to the doctor when he landed because I was concerned about his medication, but our doctors don’t deal with these types of issues,” he explains.
In the United Kingdom, the family has formed a deep bond with their local representative, who is now opposing the government. Janet Daby raised a question in parliament on the day Eric was deported, and she supports the family’s claims in their entirety.
“In his youth, he had been groomed… compelled to participate in illicit activities. He is gravely ill.”
She characterizes Eric’s illegal activities as “low-level” and states that he has been “demonized and deported to another country.”
The Home Office claims it helps pay humanitarian organizations in Jamaica so deportees can “reintegrate back into society”; however, Eric’s family claims he has not been provided with continuous assistance. On landing in Jamaica, we were only able to discover a single organization of this type. They disclosed that they receive financing from the Home Office, but declined an interview.
Eric Hall’s experiences in Jamaica are not unique.
Six additional males, all with criminal convictions, were flown from the United Kingdom and now reside in various regions of the island. All claim to have received no continuous assistance and to have been unable to get work, training, or housing.
According to them, deportees such as themselves are stigmatized, and they fear for their safety. Some are forced to live with elderly relatives, while others fight to survive on the streets of downtown Kingston, where gun violence and gang activity are rampant.
Jamaica’s minister of legal and constitutional affairs, Marlene Malahoo Forte, has a “severe problem” with the United Kingdom’s deportation strategy of sending persons who have few or no ties to the island and who have been “socialized in the British society.”
She asserts that there is “disregard or scant care” for family matters.
It is comparable to the old method of transportation as punishment.
The Home Office stated in a statement: “Foreign criminals should be removed from the United Kingdom whenever it is legal and feasible to do so. Any foreign national convicted of a crime and given a prison sentence is immediately assessed for deportation.”
However, Eric Hall’s attorneys believe he should be allowed to remain in the United Kingdom and have filed a claim of illegal detention and deportation against the Home Office.
“Eric’s human rights were violated. It’s simply wrong and unfair, “reports Holly Stow. “The Home Office is desperate to get people on an aircraft who shouldn’t be on that flight and shouldn’t be held to begin with.”
The Home Office maintains its commitment to “removing foreign nationals with no right to be in the United Kingdom,” but Polly Brown hopes and prays for her son’s return.
Errol Brown in Jamaica states that he will continue to care for Eric as best he can for as long as he is able. However, he advises that time is against them.
“There is just no future here. He cannot survive independently.”
