Deportee grabbed ‘like how slaves were captured’
Percival LaTouche, president of the Jamaica Association for the Resettlement of Returning Residents (JARRR) has urged Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller to work together on behalf of the recent deportees from Britain.
“The recent news release relating to Jamaicans being deported with ‘unholy haste’ from Britain is a cause for great concern and should receive urgent attention. Many of the Jamaicans who were deported have no place to reside or family in Jamaica,” Latouche said in a letter to the leaders.
“I am appealing to you…to join together, on one accord, and to move with alacrity in addressing this undesirable, inconsiderate and inhumane situation. This is tantamount to discrimination.
“I cite the case of Twane Morgan, age 33, a veteran of the British Army who suffers from post-traumatic stress and bipolar disorder, after two stints in Afghanistan. He was sent home without a medical report. And what of his pension?
“He was good enough to fight for Britain in the army, that should make him good enough to live in Britain and to enjoy his health care, and his pension whenever that becomes due,” Latouche wrote.
“There is also the case of the 60-year-old lady who was married to a British citizen, having children and grandchildren, and who applied for indefinite stay in Britain.
“She met upon such bureaucracy that her husband died before the process was completed. On September 2, 2016, she was at her daughter’s house with her grandchildren when she was ‘snatched’ and taken to the Immigration Detention Centre.
“This sort of behaviour takes me back to what I read of how the slaves were captured. If anyone had told me that in this modern-day Britain would have subjected itself in this discriminatory way, I would say this could never happen.
“If we allow this to just ride and go on, then we can be prepared for worse to come. We need to stand up and defend our Jamaicans who built that country after the World War. I myself was a part of that team,” the JARRR president told the leaders.
