Confusion for family and friends of Fatou Tamba as she is driven back from airport after another deportation plan is scrapped
Fatou Tamba is facing deportation from the UK
A Liverpool woman who is fighting Home Office efforts to remove her from the United Kingdom has had a second planned deportation flight cancelled.
Fatou Tamba has lived in the UK for the past 18 years – including the last eight in Liverpool – in March she was detained by immigration officials and told she would be deported to The Gambia where she is originally from.
Ms Tamba’s family have repeatedly warned that she would face major dangers if she was sent to the West African country owing to her family’s political connections.
Ms Tamba is a popular and much-loved community figure in Liverpool and her friends, family and legal team have been fighting the deportation plans for several months.
A previous flight that was scheduled to remove her from the UK was cancelled at the last minute in April.
While that brief reprieve was welcomed by campaigners, things looked bleak for Ms Tamba again over the weekend after she was moved suddenly from Derwentside Immigration Centre in the North East to Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre in Bedfordshire.
This is a facility used by the Home Office to detain people before they are deported from the country.
The 55-year-old and her family were then told that she would be placed on a flight to The Gambia via Turkey today (Tuesday), departing at 4.40pm. But again this deportation was cancelled at the last minute.
Fatou Tamba is facing deportation from the UK
Ms Tamba’s brother Lamin, who is a UK citizen and has been keeping the ECHO updated with his sister’s situation, said nothing had been provided in terms of an explanation for why the second planned flight was cancelled and what happens next.
He said his sister had actually been taken to the airport before the plans were cancelled – but was now being transported back to Yarl’s Wood.
The family and campaigners have been arguing that Fatou has a strong right to remain in the UK based on her family life – because she has a partner and a son living in the UK. They have also highlighted her medical conditions including diabetes and depression.
Lamin said: “We have sought more legal advice and the law firm (representing Fatou) cannot understand why they want to remove her when she has very strong ties here. They can’t understand why the Home Office refused her latest applications.”
Lamin has previously told the ECHO of his fears for his sister’s safety if she is sent to The Gambia. He said: “Most of our family is associated with the former government in The Gambia and this has resulted in us being targeted. Members of our family have been detained for years without charges and our cousin was shot.
“Many have had to flee and we still receive death threats. If she is sent back, she will be at risk of kidnapping, false imprisonment, or death.”