And Stay Out

Jean-Pierre Djimbonge is one of those odd fellows who goes on holiday on his own. As a senior lecturer at a Congolese University he lives pretty well and travels to Europe once or twice a year.

Last month, he landed at Belfast airport as part of his tour of the UK. Eventhough he had all the necessary travel documents, those honourable men at the UK Border Agency cuffed him and threw him in a police cell. After a couple of days, without access to a lawyer, he was transferred by boat to Dungavel immigration centre in Scotland. Thence began a two-week journey to another detention establishment near Heathrow, onto another near Cambridge and then back up to Scotland.
UKBA allege he was planning on entering Eire illegally, a charge they later dropped. I'm not sure that is our business in any case, more for the Irish authorities. In any event, this casual brutality meeted out on this visitor to this country is a disgrace, borne of institutional racism.
Naturally we would condemn, out of hand, any country who treated a British citizen similarly. UKBA said without irony this was an "intelligence-led operation" and in the same breath referred to stopping the movement of "drugs and weapons" thereby smearing Mr Djimbonge's good name.

Unsuprisingly, the Immigration Agency feels it is struggling to get good PR these days and so over the summer embarked a series of roadshows (I'm not making this up). The problem, they perceived was the public didn't think they were being tough enough.

So UKBA set up several displays at county fairs across England where pensioners could learn what it felt like to be handcuffed, children were fingerprinted and whole familes locked into the cold steel of a detention vehicle. Although this may sound like a satirical sketch, but UKBA really believe the tyrannical and pitiless treatment of people can be treated like some attraction at a leisure park.

I am sure Mr Djimbonge will not be returning any time soon to enjoy this country's idea of hospitality and fun.