Anti-racism group seeks review of deportation process

A group campaigning on behalf of immigrants and asylum seekers has called for a complete re-examination of the deportation process.

Residents Against Racism said today that it believed gardaí were preparing to carry out a mass deportation of Nigerians in the near future, as several had been detained over the past few weeks.

Gardaí normally arrest up to 50 immigrants of the same nationality before returning them to their home countries on specially chartered flights that depart under cover of darkness.

Residents Against Racism says the manner in which these arrests take place is inhuman and unacceptable.

It wants responsibility for immigration and deportation to be taken away from politicians and given instead to an independent body like the Human Rights Commission.