Something chilling happened in the UK in the early hours of this morning (July 31st 2014).
It is doubtful whether most people will remember – or even know – the name Isabella Acevedo. She was the Colombian immigrant employed as a cleaner by the former Minister of State for Immigration Mark Harper. Mr Harper is perhaps best known as the man responsible for the “Go Home” vans targeting illegal immigrants last year. Shortly after that disastrous policy/publicity stunt was scrapped, Mr Harper again hit the headlines when it was revealed he was employing an “illegal” himself. Much was written about the minister at the time, but very little was known about his ex-employee.
Isabella Acevedo arrived in the UK from Colombia – legally – with her 5 year-old daughter in 2000.
It is doubtful whether most people will remember – or even know – the name Isabella Acevedo. She was the Colombian immigrant employed as a cleaner by the former Minister of State for Immigration Mark Harper. Mr Harper is perhaps best known as the man responsible for the “Go Home” vans targeting illegal immigrants last year. Shortly after that disastrous policy/publicity stunt was scrapped, Mr Harper again hit the headlines when it was revealed he was employing an “illegal” himself. Much was written about the minister at the time, but very little was known about his ex-employee.
Isabella Acevedo arrived in the UK from Colombia – legally – with her 5 year-old daughter in 2000.
Hoping but failing to find work in the fashion industry, she started cleaning offices, and in 2007 was employed by Mr Harper. She worked for him for seven years, earning £30 a week. (Naturally Mr Harper claimed back that hefty sum from parliamentary expenses). In 2010, still carefully adhering to the legal requirements set down by the UK immigration authorities (in this case ten years' residence), Isabella applied for indefinite leave to remain, but was turned down because her daughter had returned to Colombia for two and half years as a child. Isabella appealed.
It was at this point, while her appeal was ongoing, that a regular background check revealed that she did not have the correct immigration documentation allowing her to work. This was simply because her appeal was still going through the courts. She was in legal limbo. Of course that didn’t stop every newspaper headline writer referring to her as “illegal”. Even normally sympathetic journalists unquestioningly tagged her as such as a means of accusing Mr Harper of hypocrisy. But in doing so they willingly overlooked a much more complex – and much more human – situation.
When the story broke in the press, Isabella was immediately fired. Immigration officers raided and padlocked her house. Isabella was left homeless, and unable to work. For his part Mark Harper resigned from his ministerial position. Now a mere MP, he was left struggling to survive on his mere MP’s salary (£66,000 a year). David Cameron expressed his sympathy for Mr Harper, writing - "You will be greatly missed, and I hope very much that you will be able to return to service on the frontbench before too long". The prime minister expressed no concerns about Ms Acevedo's well-being.
Two weeks ago, after her appeal was turned down, Isabella was arrested by border officials in order to deport her. With characteristic sensitivity, the officials detained and handcuffed the 47 year-old woman just moments before her daughter’s wedding, while she was waiting at Haringey Town Hall for the ceremony to begin. From there, Isabella was taken to Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre (currently the focus of claims of sexual abuse of foreign female detainees by British guards – not strictly relevant to this case admittedly, but worth noting to get a sense of the bigger picture here).
The government initially tried to deport Isabella last Thursday (July 24th) but their efforts were halted by protests from a small group of supporters. More protests were planned, and Isabella's case was being watched very closely. And yet somehow, with all this scrutiny, just after midnight this morning, Isabella Acevedo was removed from the UK without warning.
It is starting to appear that the UK government broke its own deportation laws today. These laws state that deportees are to be given notice of a two week “window” during which they will be removed. Isabella was given her notice just yesterday (July 30th), and was forcibly removed all of two minutes into that two week window, while she was still in nightwear. So far, so demeaning. But technically legal.
However, the law also states that during this two week window, deportees must be given 48 hours’ notice of their actual deportation – including the date, time and flight details. And as things stand, it seems the government chose to ignore that particular law. Given the relatively high profile of the case, and the very active campaign supporting Isabella, it is inconceivable that her legal team simply sat back and put their feet up upon receiving notice. All the evidence suggests that it was not given. As for a motive – an unannounced removal in the dead of night would avoid any more protests. All that’s missing from this scenario is a blindfold.
And with that, an inconvenient blot on a politician’s record is swiftly and quietly – and almost certainly illegally – removed from the country.
And with that, an inconvenient blot on a politician’s record is swiftly and quietly – and almost certainly illegally – removed from the country.
But it’s not all bad news. The week before Isabella was detained, her former employer Mark Harper returned to the frontbench of British Government as Minister of State for Disabled People. And in another nifty piece of law-avoidance, he even managed to skip the £20,000 fine for employing an illegal worker (a fine introduced in 2013 by, erm, Mark Harper).
Mr Mark Harper - you are the worst kind of tory.
(and that is saying something)
Pay the fine !
(and that is saying something)
Pay the fine !
And get a conscience - or a heart.
