Deportation Without a Safety Net The recent arrest and detention of Mark Nelson, a 46 year old Jamaican man who has lived in the UK for over two decades, has brought into sharp focus the harsh realities of the government's new immigration bill.
As one of the first cases to be tested under this bill, Nelson's situation raises fundamental questions about the treatment of long term residents and the true intent behind the anti immigration measures.
Nelson's story is not an isolated incident but a symptom of a larger problem created by the new immigration bill's emphasis on a harsher test for the "family and private life" exception – article 8.