Mark Nelson, a 47-year-old Jamaican man who has lived in the United Kingdom for 26 years, is facing deportation under new measures introduced in last week's immigration bill. Nelson, who has five British children and a British partner, is currently detained at a removal centre near Heathrow airport.
Nelson arrived in the UK in 2000 and established a car-mechanic business. In 2017, he was sentenced to four years in prison for possession with intent to supply a class B drug, abstracting electricity, and two offences of racially aggravated intentional harassment. He has not committed any further offences since his release.
Nelson previously faced removal in 2022, when he wrote an opinion piece for the Guardian explaining that Jamaica was no longer a home for him, as his great-grandparents, who raised him, had died when he was 16. His removal was cancelled at the time, and he was instead required to wear an electronic tag and report weekly to the Home Office. However, last Thursday, he was arrested and told that the government plans to deport him.
Speaking from detention, Nelson described his devastation and the impact on his family. "I'm in a hot and filthy cell on the induction wing. My mental health is so bad because of what the Home Office has done to me," he said. He added that his brother, aged 46, broke down in tears upon hearing of his detention, and that he had been unable to sleep. "I love my kids so much, and I can't bear to think of them being without their dad."
His partner, Rachel Derbyshire, said the family was distraught, accusing the Home Office of treating Nelson "as if he was a rapist or a murderer." The new immigration bill tightens the test for family and private life considerations under Article 8 in deportation cases, although exceptional circumstances, such as social integration and the impact on family members, are still meant to be taken into account.
A Home Office spokesperson said: "All foreign national offenders who receive a prison sentence in the UK are referred for deportation at the earliest opportunity." The spokesperson added that more than 70,000 illegal migrants and foreign national offenders have been returned since the government took office, a 41% increase.
