The Home Office indicated that these deportations are part of a significant increase in immigration enforcement and repatriations, according to the Guardian UK.
Since the Labour government took office, around 3,600 individuals have been returned to various nations, including approximately 200 to Brazil and 46 to Vietnam and Timor Leste.
Regular deportation flights are also conducted to Albania, Lithuania, and Romania.
Deportation flights to Nigeria and Ghana are infrequent, with only four documented since 2020, based on data obtained through freedom of information requests.
Previous flights had significantly fewer passengers, with counts of six, seven, 16, and 21, respectively. The recent flight saw more than double that number being removed in one operation.
This deportation coincided with reports that any asylum seekers arriving in Diego Garcia prior to the finalization of a treaty between the UK and Mauritius regarding the return of the Chagos Islands will be sent to Saint Helena, a British territory in the Atlantic Ocean known for its remoteness.
One of four Nigerians interviewed by the Guardian while detained at Brook House immigration removal center near Gatwick prior to their deportation attempted suicide. His cellmate, who witnessed the incident, described being "very traumatized" by the experience.
A second man said: “I’ve been in the UK for 15 years as an asylum seeker. I have no criminal record but the Home Office has refused my claim.”
A third individual reported that he had been subjected to grooming for exploitation during his childhood and bears scars from torture on his body.
“I told the Home Office I was a victim of trafficking. They rejected my claim.”
A fourth individual stated that he had urgently sought a solicitor to contest his removal orders, but he was unable to locate anyone willing to represent him.
Fizza Qureshi, the CEO of Migrants’ Rights Network, who was in contact with some of the people on the Nigeria/Ghana deportation flight before they left the UK, said: “We are extremely shocked at the cruelty of these deportations, especially with the speed, secrecy and the lack of access to legal support. In the words of one detainee we spoke to before he was put on the flight: ‘The Home Office is playing politics with people’s lives. We have not done anything wrong other than cry for help.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We have already begun delivering a major surge in immigration enforcement and returns activity to remove people with no right to be in the UK and ensure the rules are respected and enforced, with over 3,600 returned in the first two months of the new government.”