Delay due to Prince William and Kate’s visit to the island

A new deportation flight from England to Jamaica has been delayed, owing to the visit to the island next month of Prince William and Kate.

The UK Voice is today reporting that the fourth Home Office charter flight to Kingston in a year comes just months after campaigners rallied together to stop up to 50 Jamaican nationals being ripped away from their families in the UK has been delayed.

However, the flight will take place right after the Royal visit, which will see the couple, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge travelling to Jamaica, The Bahamas and Belize, as they embark on a 12-day tour ahead of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations this summer.

The families of those who live in fear of deportations by the Home Office believe that the delayed move of a possible charter flight is being stoked to avoid tensions boiling over between the firm and their relationship with the Jamaica as the Queen prepares to celebrate 70 years on the throne.

Absence of deportation flight unusual

Karen Doyle, a campaigner and organiser at Movement for Justice, said the absence of a deportation flight was “unusual” at this time of year. “This is the first time since they [the Home Office] restarted the flights in 2019 that they haven’t done the January, February flight,” she said.

Doyle went on to tell The Voice that she is grateful for the “break” between deportation flights amidst the growing speculation. “It’s too soon after the last flight [for another deportation to go ahead]. It’s always a really hard fight in February, so I’m glad,” she added.

Speaking last year ahead of the chart flight of detainees – dubbed the “Jamaica50” – Jamaica’s high commissioner in London, Seth Ramocan, said: “From a human rights perspective I am deeply concerned about cases in which persons are being removed having lived in the UK since childhood and have no known relations in Jamaica or familiarity with Jamaica.

He explained that, “there are clear examples of these cases and I implore the Home Office to give due consideration to this concern.”

The Royal tour will be to promote environmental issues, but it is also understood that the move is in line with the Monarch’s plans to dampen other countries still in the “Commonwealth Realms” making the move towards republicanism.

The royal visit to the idyllic island nations follows Barbados’ historical transition into a republic in November last year and the removal of the Queen as its head of state after 400-years of colonial ties with the monarchy. The trip is reportedly in a bid to “strengthen” relations between the British monarchy and the countries in the Commonwealth