A Court of Appeals judge has ordered the Home Office not to deport people to Jamaica on Tuesday unless they had access to a functioning, non-O2 Sim card on or before 3 February.
The order comes after lawyers argued some set to be deported from two detention centres could not get legal advice due to issues with an O2 mast. The Home Office says it is “urgently asking the judge to reconsider”.
Earlier, Labour’s Diane Abbott said removing the detainees was “unfair”. But Home Secretary Priti Patel said many were guilty of “serious offences”.
Ms Patel said every person on the flight had “received a custodial sentence of 12 months or more”.
Therefore under legislation introduced by the Labour government in 2007, she said, “a deportation order must be made”
