A cross-Border initiative to stop illegal immigrants using Northern Ireland as a route into the Republic is being operated in a "heavy-handed and racist way" according to a Belfast solicitor specialising in immigration cases.
Barbara Muldoon said she is representing a growing number of Africans who have been illegally detained at ports and airports by immigration officials after travelling to the North from other parts of the UK. Some individuals have ended up in prison. One man was separated from his family and sent to a detention centre in Scotland for 10 days.
Last week, the North's Equality Commission revealed that a man who came for a weekend break with his wife and children ended up spending two nights in Maghaberry Prison, accused of trying to seek asylum in the Republic. The structural engineer was carrying documents which proved that he was living and working legally in the UK. The immigration authorities admitted his detention was illegal, apologised and paid him compensation.
The Equality Commission said the case was "horrendous". The immigration service agreed to review its policies and practices and discuss race awareness training with the commission. The NI Human Rights Commission is currently investigating the use of detention in Operation Gull.
"Operation Gull, as it is called, is designed to stop illegal entry to the Republic," said Ms Muldoon. "But it is being used to trample over the rights of people who are travelling on domestic flights and ferries within the UK. Some live in the UK. Others have already been through immigration on entry to the UK. Their documents are in order. These people are being singled out because they are black. They are left traumatised, angry and upset."
Yesterday Nigerian businesswoman Stella Ofordu flew home to her husband and family in Nigeria after a judge ordered immigration authorities to return her passport to her. They had confiscated it at Belfast International Airport. Ms Ofordu travels to Belfast regularly to get private medical treatment for her two-year-old daughter, Chiamanda, who has a hole in her heart.
Last month, while on a medical visit with Chiamanda, Ms Ofordu had her second baby, Adina, in Belfast's Mater Hospital. She paid for the birth in a private ward. Despite having a medical visa and receipts, immigration officials accused her of exploiting the National Health Service.
"I felt really bad - the official was really harsh. They held me for three hours and they were laughing at me and accusing me. It is depressing - you pay all your bills and you have your papers and still they treat you this way," Ms Ofordu said. A judicial review of her detention will be heard in the High Court in Belfast on November 8th.
Operation Gull was established in 2004 and is run by the Garda National Immigration Bureau, the Irish Department of Social Welfare, and the British Border and Immigration Agency (BIA). It operates three or four days a fortnight at Northern airports and ports.
Elwyn Soutter, chief immigration inspector with the BIA in the North, said that Operation Gull detects 800 to 900 illegal immigrants per year. "We occasionally get our facts wrong but that is an inevitable by-product. The figures speak for themselves. We are saving the Irish taxpayer millions in fraud," he said. "There is no racism. We detain people if we think they will abscond."
Ms Muldoon has represented a Nigerian bank official who visited the North during a holiday. He had a UK visa and an ongoing ticket to the US but officials in Belfast cancelled the visa and sent him to prison.
His detention was ruled illegal and he was compensated. Another client, a man from Cameroon who was on a training course in the UK, came to the North to visit friends and was illegally detained. He has also been compensated. The BIA is appealing these decisions.