SSP Research, Policy & Media Unit
Press Release: 30/09/05
Scottish Socialist Party MSP Rosie Kane today condemned the latest deportation of asylum seekers from Scotland as “cruel, barbarous and inhumane”.
She was speaking after 23 year old Jamaican woman, Nicole Doren Palmer and her three boys - British-born 3 year-old twins Rajai and Tajai Palmer and American-Born Glasgow school child 6 year-old Shemar Williams were removed by immigration officials.
The British-born twins are being sent to Jamaica - a country that will not accept them as citizens. They will effectively become stateless, while their US-born elder brother has a US passport.
Rosie said today;
“Another day, another family deported by the Home Office who are operating in Scotland as an unaccountable secret police.
“This latest case exposes a system which is cruel, barbarous and inhumane.
“We now have a situation in which children born in the UK are being deported to a country which will not accept them as citizens
“The Children's Commissioner for Scotland has spoken out about the barbarous practise of children being removed in dawn raids by immigration police and the First Minister is even reported to be concerned about what is going on.
“None of the opposition to Home Office practise appears to make the slightest difference as the latest case involving Nicole Doren Palmer shows.
“I will be calling for all those parties and individuals in Scotland who are opposed to the barbarous practices of the Home Office to meet at the earliest opportunity to discuss how we can take forward our campaign in defence of asylum seekers.
“I repeat my call for asylum and immigration issues to be fully devolved to the Scottish Parliament so that Scotland can provide a home for those fleeing violence and oppression free from the worry of dawn raids and deportation back to the nightmare they fled.”
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