Browse content similar to Don't Deport Me, I'm British. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
This programme contains some strong language and some scenes which some viewers may find upsetting. | 0:00:02 | 0:00:06 | |
Every year, thousands of children travel to Britain | 0:00:06 | 0:00:08 | |
from poor countries, seeking new lives. | 0:00:08 | 0:00:10 | |
The Government allows some to stay till they're 18, | 0:00:10 | 0:00:13 | |
and grow up British. | 0:00:13 | 0:00:14 | |
Everything in me is the British culture. | 0:00:14 | 0:00:18 | |
But once they become adults, | 0:00:18 | 0:00:20 | |
they face deportation back to where they were born. | 0:00:20 | 0:00:22 | |
For six months, I followed three young men | 0:00:27 | 0:00:30 | |
whose lives are in turmoil. | 0:00:30 | 0:00:32 | |
Fucking dickhead. Shut your mouth. | 0:00:36 | 0:00:38 | |
The Government has ordered them back to countries | 0:00:40 | 0:00:43 | |
they've not been to for years... | 0:00:43 | 0:00:45 | |
..in some cases, to dangerous and war-torn places. | 0:00:51 | 0:00:54 | |
But some were sent to the UK by their families to earn a living. | 0:01:02 | 0:01:06 | |
Others have broken the law in Britain. | 0:01:10 | 0:01:13 | |
So the big question is, | 0:01:16 | 0:01:18 | |
when is it fair for the Government to deport them? | 0:01:18 | 0:01:21 | |
Come on, then, Bash, make a wish. | 0:01:43 | 0:01:45 | |
My wish is to stay in this country. | 0:01:45 | 0:01:48 | |
Live my life with my family, | 0:01:48 | 0:01:50 | |
make my own future with my beautiful girlfriend. | 0:01:50 | 0:01:54 | |
That's what is my big wish, | 0:01:54 | 0:01:56 | |
that the Home Office can let me stay in the UK. | 0:01:56 | 0:01:58 | |
That's what I've been waiting for nearly ten years, | 0:02:00 | 0:02:03 | |
so, hopefully, my wish comes true. | 0:02:03 | 0:02:05 | |
Put it on the bottom. Some more can go on the bottom there, can't they? | 0:02:06 | 0:02:10 | |
I first met Bash last Christmas | 0:02:10 | 0:02:12 | |
at his girlfriend Nicole's house, where he lives. | 0:02:12 | 0:02:15 | |
He'd recently been arrested and sent to an immigration detention centre. | 0:02:16 | 0:02:20 | |
Suddenly everything just changed with a click. | 0:02:22 | 0:02:24 | |
-Literally. -Yeah. | 0:02:26 | 0:02:28 | |
It's just not fair, | 0:02:30 | 0:02:31 | |
what they're putting families through. | 0:02:31 | 0:02:34 | |
No-one should have to go through what Bash has been through... | 0:02:34 | 0:02:39 | |
..over the past two months. | 0:02:42 | 0:02:44 | |
This one, such a beautiful... | 0:02:45 | 0:02:47 | |
We never, ever thought that there would be a time I'd get arrested | 0:02:47 | 0:02:51 | |
and they'd hand me a ticket and say, "Go back to Afghanistan." | 0:02:51 | 0:02:55 | |
Believe in a better life. | 0:03:00 | 0:03:01 | |
Believe in a better future. A good future. | 0:03:04 | 0:03:07 | |
The reason they tell me to go back to Afghanistan is | 0:03:08 | 0:03:11 | |
Afghanistan is safe for me. How could it be safe for me? | 0:03:11 | 0:03:13 | |
Going back after ten years and there is still a war going on? | 0:03:14 | 0:03:18 | |
No-one wants to say something like, | 0:03:18 | 0:03:20 | |
"This is the last time you could spend time with your boyfriend." | 0:03:20 | 0:03:24 | |
HE SIGHS | 0:03:28 | 0:03:30 | |
Come here. | 0:03:37 | 0:03:39 | |
It's just painful. | 0:03:52 | 0:03:53 | |
That's why I keep things inside my heart all the time. | 0:03:56 | 0:03:59 | |
And I can't cope with it. | 0:04:01 | 0:04:03 | |
Sometimes I feel it's just the end of everything. | 0:04:03 | 0:04:07 | |
Everything. | 0:04:08 | 0:04:09 | |
The Home Office is arguing that it's safe for him | 0:04:15 | 0:04:17 | |
to return to Afghanistan. | 0:04:17 | 0:04:19 | |
But Bash has terrible memories of what the Taliban did to his father | 0:04:22 | 0:04:26 | |
when he was just nine. | 0:04:26 | 0:04:27 | |
A group of people came to our house and explained that the Taliban | 0:04:30 | 0:04:35 | |
wanted my father to work for them, but my father said no, | 0:04:35 | 0:04:39 | |
because he was in the Afghani army. | 0:04:39 | 0:04:41 | |
When I went outside to take some food for my dad, | 0:04:43 | 0:04:47 | |
seeing him laying down there, shot dead. | 0:04:47 | 0:04:50 | |
And I thought, "No, he's just sleeping." | 0:04:53 | 0:04:55 | |
But in front of my eyes, seeing my father get shot. | 0:04:57 | 0:05:01 | |
No, I cannot forget that. | 0:05:01 | 0:05:03 | |
And when I picked him up and held him... | 0:05:09 | 0:05:11 | |
..it's like... | 0:05:13 | 0:05:14 | |
..he's smiling at me, but he's not talking. | 0:05:16 | 0:05:19 | |
He's not saying anything. | 0:05:19 | 0:05:21 | |
He's not... | 0:05:21 | 0:05:23 | |
Bash says his mum sold the family land so she could pay traffickers | 0:05:34 | 0:05:39 | |
to smuggle her only surviving child to safety in Britain. | 0:05:39 | 0:05:43 | |
The Government places most unaccompanied asylum-seeking children into foster care. | 0:05:47 | 0:05:53 | |
-Hello! -Hello, Mum. OK? -Yeah, how about you? | 0:05:56 | 0:06:00 | |
-All right? -I'm good, yeah. | 0:06:00 | 0:06:02 | |
All right, lovely? | 0:06:02 | 0:06:04 | |
Bash lived with his foster mum Dawn for close to seven years. | 0:06:04 | 0:06:08 | |
Merry Christmas. | 0:06:08 | 0:06:09 | |
May we see the pictures, Mam? | 0:06:13 | 0:06:14 | |
Can you believe that? And look at this face in that one. | 0:06:17 | 0:06:20 | |
It's crazy when you look at this picture. | 0:06:20 | 0:06:22 | |
It's sad. Scared. | 0:06:22 | 0:06:24 | |
Couldn't speak English. | 0:06:26 | 0:06:28 | |
It doesn't seem like ten years ago. | 0:06:28 | 0:06:31 | |
Do you remember when I came and you was laying down in the garden? | 0:06:34 | 0:06:37 | |
I was in the bikini, and I said to him, | 0:06:37 | 0:06:40 | |
I said, "This is my garden, Bash. This is what we do. | 0:06:40 | 0:06:43 | |
"Women go out in their back gardens and they sunbathe." | 0:06:43 | 0:06:46 | |
He says, "But you can't do that, you've got to dress," you know? | 0:06:46 | 0:06:49 | |
I said, "No, the sun is out, I'm sunbathing." | 0:06:49 | 0:06:52 | |
It was quite funny. | 0:06:52 | 0:06:54 | |
The first five years, we thought we were going to get you a passport. | 0:06:55 | 0:06:58 | |
But then, after five years, everything changed. | 0:06:58 | 0:07:02 | |
And then a few months ago, just hit rock bottom. | 0:07:02 | 0:07:06 | |
-Couldn't get any worse. -No. | 0:07:06 | 0:07:08 | |
-You all right? -Yeah, just feeling a bit nervous. | 0:07:29 | 0:07:31 | |
When people like Bash turn 17-and-a-half, | 0:07:33 | 0:07:36 | |
the Home Office starts the process of removing them | 0:07:36 | 0:07:39 | |
back to their home countries, | 0:07:39 | 0:07:41 | |
unless they can prove why they should stay. | 0:07:41 | 0:07:45 | |
Bash's lawyer is aiming to prove that he's become too Westernised | 0:07:45 | 0:07:49 | |
to live safely in Afghanistan. | 0:07:49 | 0:07:52 | |
An expert in Afghani culture | 0:07:52 | 0:07:54 | |
is going to test Bash's native language skills. | 0:07:54 | 0:07:58 | |
The thing is with me, I can't speak fluently. | 0:07:58 | 0:08:02 | |
It doesn't matter whether you can speak fluently or not. | 0:08:02 | 0:08:06 | |
The point is that you need to try. | 0:08:06 | 0:08:09 | |
IN DARI: | 0:08:12 | 0:08:14 | |
-ENGLISH: I will get it. -I want to achieve this. | 0:08:57 | 0:09:00 | |
That's how confident I am now with my case, | 0:09:00 | 0:09:03 | |
because I have one of the best solicitors with me. | 0:09:03 | 0:09:06 | |
Especially you, as Afghani expert. | 0:09:06 | 0:09:08 | |
-All the best. -Thank you. | 0:09:09 | 0:09:10 | |
Back in Afghanistan, they would straightaway be questioned | 0:09:13 | 0:09:15 | |
where they come from. | 0:09:15 | 0:09:17 | |
If you're not able to speak Dari or Pashto, you cannot use Arabic words. | 0:09:17 | 0:09:22 | |
A lot of time, you hear that somebody was kidnapped | 0:09:22 | 0:09:26 | |
and his family was asked for this amount of money, a ransom. | 0:09:26 | 0:09:29 | |
That could be one of the risks. | 0:09:31 | 0:09:32 | |
In the last ten years, | 0:09:40 | 0:09:42 | |
the Home Office has deported over 3,800 young people like Bash, | 0:09:42 | 0:09:47 | |
who arrived in the UK as unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. | 0:09:47 | 0:09:51 | |
Potential deportees are often held | 0:09:55 | 0:09:58 | |
in one of 11 immigration detention centres. | 0:09:58 | 0:10:01 | |
After weeks, months, sometimes years behind bars, | 0:10:07 | 0:10:12 | |
they're placed on flights out of the country. | 0:10:12 | 0:10:14 | |
Everyone is in cuffs on the coaches. | 0:10:15 | 0:10:18 | |
Imagine how you feel - chains on your legs, chains on your arms, | 0:10:20 | 0:10:25 | |
taken from your family, | 0:10:25 | 0:10:27 | |
like, the only family you've known your whole life... | 0:10:27 | 0:10:29 | |
..and just disappearing from that. How would you feel? | 0:10:31 | 0:10:36 | |
People try to do their things to avoid their flights and all that. | 0:10:43 | 0:10:46 | |
Try to jump off railings with ropes round their necks. | 0:10:46 | 0:10:51 | |
That's how much people want to avoid coming back, | 0:10:51 | 0:10:56 | |
because you're just destroying your whole life, | 0:10:56 | 0:10:59 | |
especially the ones my age. | 0:10:59 | 0:11:00 | |
In March, 22-year-old Francois and 31 other deportees | 0:11:04 | 0:11:09 | |
were put onto this specially chartered flight. | 0:11:09 | 0:11:11 | |
It was headed for where they were born - Jamaica. | 0:11:14 | 0:11:18 | |
One week into his new life in the Jamaican countryside, | 0:11:29 | 0:11:32 | |
and Francois is struggling to cope. | 0:11:32 | 0:11:34 | |
This is far from home! | 0:11:37 | 0:11:39 | |
Home is England. That's my home, London. | 0:11:42 | 0:11:44 | |
That's where I grew up, innit? | 0:11:47 | 0:11:48 | |
No-one who's gone there at a young age deserves to leave, regardless. | 0:11:50 | 0:11:55 | |
Cos we're basically British, as much as they are. | 0:11:56 | 0:11:59 | |
Francois moved to England when he was just seven. | 0:12:01 | 0:12:04 | |
His aunt brought him over | 0:12:05 | 0:12:07 | |
because he was abandoned by his parents in Jamaica. | 0:12:07 | 0:12:10 | |
The Home Office allowed him to stay in the UK until he was 18. | 0:12:12 | 0:12:16 | |
He lived mostly in Neasden, north-west London, | 0:12:21 | 0:12:23 | |
with his auntie Karen. | 0:12:23 | 0:12:25 | |
Aged 18, Francois became a dad. | 0:13:27 | 0:13:30 | |
He stopped living with his son, but still looked after him regularly. | 0:13:31 | 0:13:35 | |
Next week's my son's birthday and it's got me stressed that | 0:13:37 | 0:13:41 | |
he's going to be four and I'm not going to be there | 0:13:41 | 0:13:44 | |
to see him turn four. | 0:13:44 | 0:13:45 | |
I've never missed none of his birthdays in my life... | 0:13:52 | 0:13:55 | |
in HIS life. | 0:13:55 | 0:13:56 | |
So he's going to turn four without me because of immigration. | 0:14:00 | 0:14:03 | |
After 15 years away from Jamaica, | 0:14:13 | 0:14:16 | |
Francois has had to move in with family he barely knows... | 0:14:16 | 0:14:21 | |
What are you lot doing? Get out, man. | 0:14:21 | 0:14:23 | |
INDISTINCT | 0:14:23 | 0:14:24 | |
Hold that and get out, man. | 0:14:24 | 0:14:26 | |
..including his mum, who left him when he was four. | 0:14:30 | 0:14:33 | |
SHE CHUCKLES | 0:14:50 | 0:14:51 | |
When he was 18, | 0:15:19 | 0:15:21 | |
Francois was involved in a mass brawl with football fans in London. | 0:15:21 | 0:15:24 | |
Although he was acquitted of violent disorder, | 0:15:27 | 0:15:29 | |
the Home Office looked more closely at his record of behaviour. | 0:15:29 | 0:15:33 | |
They decided not to extend his right to stay. | 0:15:33 | 0:15:36 | |
This is... | 0:15:42 | 0:15:43 | |
..like being in a murder case, you get all the evidence. | 0:15:45 | 0:15:48 | |
The evidence to take me away from my family. | 0:15:50 | 0:15:53 | |
I didn't know they could actually force you out with paperwork! | 0:15:56 | 0:16:00 | |
The Home Office argued that Francois' four criminal convictions | 0:16:03 | 0:16:07 | |
and frequent brushes with the law | 0:16:07 | 0:16:09 | |
outweighed his right to stay as a parent. | 0:16:09 | 0:16:13 | |
They're saying my history began as a juvenile, | 0:16:13 | 0:16:17 | |
convicted for robbery in 2009, | 0:16:17 | 0:16:20 | |
actual bodily harm in 2010... | 0:16:20 | 0:16:23 | |
..and two thousand and... possession of A-class | 0:16:25 | 0:16:29 | |
and assault on a constable in 2013. | 0:16:29 | 0:16:33 | |
Tell me about those briefly. | 0:16:36 | 0:16:37 | |
It's basically saying that all my offences was when I was a juvenile. | 0:16:39 | 0:16:43 | |
But you did have cocaine on you? | 0:16:47 | 0:16:48 | |
Yeah, I pled guilty to possession. | 0:16:48 | 0:16:50 | |
But it weren't no large amount. | 0:16:53 | 0:16:55 | |
I'm not Pablo Escobar! | 0:16:57 | 0:16:58 | |
Francois has never served a jail sentence. | 0:17:00 | 0:17:03 | |
He believes he was unfairly targeted by a special Home Office operation | 0:17:03 | 0:17:07 | |
set up to increase deportations of dangerous foreign criminals. | 0:17:07 | 0:17:11 | |
This meant his charge of violent disorder | 0:17:14 | 0:17:16 | |
could be used as part of the case to remove him. | 0:17:16 | 0:17:18 | |
Violent disorder was dismissed against me. | 0:17:19 | 0:17:22 | |
How does that make you a criminal? | 0:17:22 | 0:17:24 | |
Francois believes that some of the traces of him on police records | 0:17:26 | 0:17:30 | |
were unfairly used to argue the case for his removal. | 0:17:30 | 0:17:33 | |
"Mr Summers was stopped by police 32 times in a three-year period | 0:17:35 | 0:17:41 | |
"in his local area." | 0:17:41 | 0:17:44 | |
In their language, you get stopped 32 times for being black | 0:17:44 | 0:17:47 | |
and wearing a tracksuit. Come on, Neasden. | 0:17:47 | 0:17:51 | |
You're from Neasden and you're black, you're wearing a tracksuit, | 0:17:51 | 0:17:53 | |
you're going to jail. Or you're getting stopped 32 times. | 0:17:53 | 0:17:57 | |
Probably even more. | 0:17:58 | 0:17:59 | |
For Francois, the only hope of returning to the UK legally | 0:18:19 | 0:18:23 | |
is an out-of-country appeal. | 0:18:23 | 0:18:25 | |
There is huge pressure on the Government | 0:18:26 | 0:18:28 | |
to deport foreign nationals who commit serious crimes in Britain. | 0:18:28 | 0:18:32 | |
To speed up the process, | 0:18:33 | 0:18:35 | |
they've adopted and broadened a policy | 0:18:35 | 0:18:37 | |
known as "deport first, appeal later". | 0:18:37 | 0:18:40 | |
After three hours, Francois gives up on filling in the appeal form. | 0:19:23 | 0:19:27 | |
I was living in the Seaford area, south of England. | 0:20:15 | 0:20:20 | |
It's a very nice and warm place, probably the hottest in the UK. | 0:20:20 | 0:20:24 | |
Nice food. Fish and chips. | 0:20:26 | 0:20:29 | |
I was living with Malcolm and Nicola, my foster parents. | 0:20:29 | 0:20:32 | |
They were like actual parents to me. They looked after me really well. | 0:20:32 | 0:20:35 | |
In north-east Bangladesh, I meet 20-year-old Bok. | 0:20:40 | 0:20:43 | |
He lived in the south of England for seven years until the Home Office | 0:20:46 | 0:20:50 | |
deported him to the country of his birth in 2015. | 0:20:50 | 0:20:54 | |
Everything about coming to Bangladesh was foreign to me | 0:20:55 | 0:20:59 | |
because of the barriers to the culture, after so many years away | 0:20:59 | 0:21:04 | |
from the culture and it's moved on so much. | 0:21:04 | 0:21:07 | |
Bok is still adjusting to life | 0:21:21 | 0:21:23 | |
in a remote and rural corner of Bangladesh. | 0:21:23 | 0:21:27 | |
This is my uncle's house. | 0:21:27 | 0:21:30 | |
The front and right at the back is my house, | 0:21:30 | 0:21:33 | |
where you will go and see. | 0:21:33 | 0:21:35 | |
Two of my uncles, their children, their wife and behind, | 0:21:39 | 0:21:45 | |
I live with my mother, my sister and brother. | 0:21:45 | 0:21:48 | |
So... | 0:21:48 | 0:21:49 | |
This is my mother. | 0:21:55 | 0:21:56 | |
He's the brother, he's 11 now. | 0:21:57 | 0:22:00 | |
I was like him when I went to the UK, the same age as him. | 0:22:00 | 0:22:05 | |
So you can imagine growing up over there from this sort of age | 0:22:05 | 0:22:09 | |
and coming back to this age and how you'd react. | 0:22:09 | 0:22:12 | |
I've got... Everything in me is British culture | 0:22:12 | 0:22:15 | |
and now coming back is really tough. | 0:22:15 | 0:22:18 | |
Such a shock. | 0:22:18 | 0:22:19 | |
Hi, Rob. | 0:22:27 | 0:22:28 | |
How you doing? | 0:22:28 | 0:22:29 | |
Not bad. First thing I'd ask, how did you score 150? | 0:22:31 | 0:22:35 | |
All true. I just can't believe it. Was it under-14s bowling? | 0:22:38 | 0:22:41 | |
He is my closest friend in England | 0:22:46 | 0:22:47 | |
and I've known him the longest and he knows me the longest, probably. | 0:22:47 | 0:22:51 | |
Rob taught Bok when he was at school in Eastbourne | 0:22:53 | 0:22:56 | |
and later brought him onto his cricket team. | 0:22:56 | 0:22:58 | |
Bok should be someone who is held up as, | 0:22:59 | 0:23:01 | |
"Immigration is great. This is what it could be." | 0:23:01 | 0:23:03 | |
You've got someone who has come over to this country, | 0:23:05 | 0:23:07 | |
has gone through our education system and done amazing GCSEs, | 0:23:07 | 0:23:12 | |
had gone to college, was just about to finish his second year of college | 0:23:12 | 0:23:15 | |
and was applying to go to university, | 0:23:15 | 0:23:18 | |
was playing cricket, was coaching cricket, | 0:23:18 | 0:23:20 | |
was helping youngsters, was a massive part. | 0:23:20 | 0:23:22 | |
He couldn't have been more of a part of the furniture than what he was. | 0:23:22 | 0:23:26 | |
When Bok was 11, | 0:23:55 | 0:23:56 | |
he says his father sent him to Britain because Bok was at risk of | 0:23:56 | 0:24:00 | |
kidnap by his father's enemies. | 0:24:00 | 0:24:02 | |
Because of these threats, | 0:24:36 | 0:24:37 | |
Bok says his father paid traffickers to smuggle him to safety in | 0:24:37 | 0:24:41 | |
Eastbourne on the south coast of England. | 0:24:41 | 0:24:43 | |
But as Bok told me more of his story, | 0:24:47 | 0:24:49 | |
parts of it didn't seem to add up. | 0:24:49 | 0:24:52 | |
He says the traffickers abandoned him on a park bench. | 0:24:52 | 0:24:56 | |
He then claims he started knocking on random doors. | 0:24:56 | 0:25:00 | |
Bok was taken in, | 0:25:18 | 0:25:20 | |
but he claims this apparent stranger had no connection to his traffickers | 0:25:20 | 0:25:25 | |
or to his family in Bangladesh. | 0:25:25 | 0:25:27 | |
Yes. | 0:25:31 | 0:25:32 | |
I don't know. | 0:25:33 | 0:25:35 | |
They probably felt for me or... I was basically helping them out | 0:25:35 | 0:25:38 | |
or they felt I was helping their family. | 0:25:38 | 0:25:41 | |
Bok says he later ran into difficulties with the stranger, | 0:25:45 | 0:25:49 | |
who called social services. | 0:25:49 | 0:25:50 | |
Aged 13, Bok was placed into foster care and allowed to stay in the UK. | 0:25:52 | 0:25:57 | |
This is my foster family, the family picture together. | 0:26:06 | 0:26:09 | |
That's why I'm watching it. | 0:26:09 | 0:26:11 | |
I lived with them for nearly six years. | 0:26:11 | 0:26:14 | |
This is the old man. | 0:26:20 | 0:26:21 | |
I really miss them. They genuinely felt like a family cos, well, | 0:26:24 | 0:26:29 | |
that's how I have always felt about them. | 0:26:29 | 0:26:31 | |
Wow, they got new sofas! | 0:26:31 | 0:26:34 | |
When Bok turned 18, | 0:26:37 | 0:26:39 | |
the Home Office concluded that he could rebuild a family life in | 0:26:39 | 0:26:43 | |
Bangladesh and that there was no evidence it was unsafe | 0:26:43 | 0:26:46 | |
for him to go back. | 0:26:46 | 0:26:47 | |
He was just days away from finishing his A-levels. | 0:26:49 | 0:26:52 | |
It was also taken away at a point | 0:27:06 | 0:27:09 | |
when I was just stepping into the full life. | 0:27:09 | 0:27:13 | |
That's when I was about to step into a life | 0:27:14 | 0:27:17 | |
that I could really look forward to. | 0:27:17 | 0:27:20 | |
That was taken away at a serious time. | 0:27:20 | 0:27:25 | |
Bash has succeeded in getting thousands of people | 0:27:56 | 0:28:00 | |
to sign a petition against his deportation to Afghanistan. | 0:28:00 | 0:28:03 | |
I'm really excited. | 0:28:06 | 0:28:07 | |
I can't wait to just hand this box to the Home Office | 0:28:07 | 0:28:10 | |
and say, "This is all the public that has been supporting me." | 0:28:10 | 0:28:14 | |
This is like going to the top, top office of the Home Office | 0:28:17 | 0:28:21 | |
and delivering this message to them. | 0:28:21 | 0:28:25 | |
We're not alone. Our MP's with us. | 0:28:25 | 0:28:28 | |
It didn't even cross our mind at first that an MP could help us, | 0:28:30 | 0:28:35 | |
you know? We didn't realise what an impact it would have | 0:28:35 | 0:28:39 | |
on a case like this. | 0:28:39 | 0:28:41 | |
Bash has got the support of his local MP. | 0:29:01 | 0:29:04 | |
She hopes the Government will have to allow more people | 0:29:06 | 0:29:09 | |
like Bash to stay if he wins the appeal against his deportation. | 0:29:09 | 0:29:13 | |
We're focusing on your case today, but I'm hoping, obviously, | 0:29:15 | 0:29:20 | |
that we win the case, then we can start to help other children | 0:29:20 | 0:29:24 | |
who have been in your situation as well. | 0:29:24 | 0:29:26 | |
That's why it's so important that you win this case, | 0:29:26 | 0:29:29 | |
cos it will set a precedent, then, for other people. | 0:29:29 | 0:29:33 | |
When they hit 18, | 0:29:36 | 0:29:38 | |
they have to apply to stay here and some of them can't stay and I think | 0:29:38 | 0:29:42 | |
that has wider implications about what an inhumane and perverse policy | 0:29:42 | 0:29:46 | |
it is to do that to unaccompanied child refugees. | 0:29:46 | 0:29:49 | |
So we're going to go in now, I think. Thank you. | 0:29:51 | 0:29:53 | |
14,000 people stood next to you, | 0:30:06 | 0:30:09 | |
you just want to go keep doing it and just go there | 0:30:09 | 0:30:12 | |
and fight through it. You just don't want to give up. | 0:30:12 | 0:30:15 | |
-Come on, then, Bash. -Onwards and upwards. | 0:30:15 | 0:30:19 | |
The Government argues it's safe for many deportees | 0:30:26 | 0:30:30 | |
to return to Afghanistan. | 0:30:30 | 0:30:31 | |
It also says that deporting people like Bash discourages | 0:30:31 | 0:30:35 | |
other unaccompanied children and illegal migrants | 0:30:35 | 0:30:38 | |
from making dangerous journeys to Britain. | 0:30:38 | 0:30:41 | |
Because of immigration problems, | 0:30:44 | 0:30:46 | |
Bash has missed months of his education. | 0:30:46 | 0:30:48 | |
Today, he's finally back in college. | 0:30:48 | 0:30:51 | |
If I had a ticket for Afghanistan, free, would you go for it? | 0:30:52 | 0:30:56 | |
There's no way I would go to Afghanistan in any measures. | 0:30:57 | 0:31:01 | |
-No. -You couldn't pay me £1 million to go to Afghanistan. | 0:31:01 | 0:31:04 | |
That's how I felt. | 0:31:04 | 0:31:06 | |
I said to them, "I don't want to go." | 0:31:06 | 0:31:08 | |
You have the right to stay in this country as much as me | 0:31:08 | 0:31:11 | |
and anyone else at this table | 0:31:11 | 0:31:12 | |
cos you've been here since you were nine. | 0:31:12 | 0:31:14 | |
You've never been arrested, you've abided to the law and stuff, so... | 0:31:14 | 0:31:19 | |
what makes you any less British than any of us? | 0:31:19 | 0:31:21 | |
They say at a certain age, "Go back, Afghanistan is safe for you." | 0:31:21 | 0:31:26 | |
It's not safe for anyone in Afghanistan, | 0:31:26 | 0:31:28 | |
even the people who live there, | 0:31:28 | 0:31:30 | |
and you don't know anyone over there, | 0:31:30 | 0:31:32 | |
so you're just going to get shipped to a country where you don't know | 0:31:32 | 0:31:35 | |
the language, you don't know anybody. | 0:31:35 | 0:31:37 | |
-And you just get shot. -Yeah, you could get shot or something, like, | 0:31:37 | 0:31:40 | |
it's not a safe country to be in when you're perfectly fine here, | 0:31:40 | 0:31:43 | |
doing nothing wrong. | 0:31:43 | 0:31:45 | |
So I don't understand the big problem. | 0:31:45 | 0:31:47 | |
They could be sending you to your death, do you know what I mean? | 0:31:47 | 0:31:49 | |
-Yeah. -That's like a life sentence. | 0:31:49 | 0:31:51 | |
It's like an everyday thing for them. | 0:31:51 | 0:31:53 | |
-To have no idea where your mum is or anything. -No. | 0:31:53 | 0:31:55 | |
I haven't seen my mum since I left Afghanistan. | 0:31:55 | 0:31:58 | |
Bash says his dangerous journey to Britain over land and sea | 0:32:06 | 0:32:10 | |
took close to a year. | 0:32:10 | 0:32:12 | |
He says he passed through the hands of dozens of traffickers. | 0:32:12 | 0:32:15 | |
Before Bash turned ten, | 0:32:17 | 0:32:20 | |
he would have seen his dad killed in front of him. | 0:32:20 | 0:32:25 | |
He would have seen mothers and their babies | 0:32:26 | 0:32:30 | |
trying to come from one country to another and not make it. | 0:32:30 | 0:32:35 | |
I just want to take the pain away from him | 0:32:39 | 0:32:42 | |
and him not have to go through anything else, | 0:32:42 | 0:32:46 | |
but it's the uncertainty... | 0:32:46 | 0:32:47 | |
..of it might... | 0:32:49 | 0:32:50 | |
..it might happen again. | 0:32:52 | 0:32:53 | |
It's ten days since Francois was sent back to Jamaica. | 0:33:31 | 0:33:34 | |
And he's more desperate than ever to return to his old life in Britain. | 0:33:37 | 0:33:41 | |
I never like down here. People stare too much. | 0:33:43 | 0:33:46 | |
I hate people staring. | 0:33:48 | 0:33:49 | |
I do stand out. The way I dress, the way I speak, everything. | 0:33:51 | 0:33:56 | |
-Pardon? -Does it make you feel paranoid? | 0:34:02 | 0:34:04 | |
Yeah, it does make me feel paranoid. | 0:34:04 | 0:34:06 | |
Shut your mouth, man. | 0:34:13 | 0:34:14 | |
MAN SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY | 0:34:15 | 0:34:17 | |
Fucking dickhead. Shut your mouth, man. | 0:34:19 | 0:34:21 | |
Shut your fucking mouth, bruv. | 0:34:25 | 0:34:27 | |
That's why I don't like this country, man. | 0:34:35 | 0:34:38 | |
Despite his tough upbringing on the streets of London, | 0:34:50 | 0:34:53 | |
Jamaica is a far more dangerous place for Francois to survive. | 0:34:53 | 0:34:57 | |
The murder rate here is almost 45 times higher than in Britain. | 0:34:59 | 0:35:03 | |
Francois has lost relatives to this violence. | 0:35:07 | 0:35:10 | |
Francois heads to a homeless shelter | 0:36:21 | 0:36:23 | |
to meet another recent deportee from London. | 0:36:23 | 0:36:27 | |
Basically, there's two sides. | 0:36:27 | 0:36:29 | |
This side is for British... | 0:36:29 | 0:36:32 | |
Deportees are targets for crime in Jamaica, | 0:36:32 | 0:36:35 | |
because they've come from rich countries. | 0:36:35 | 0:36:37 | |
This is my little home for now, until I get out of here. | 0:36:38 | 0:36:45 | |
Don't see it happening around here. | 0:36:45 | 0:36:47 | |
Round here, it ain't nice. | 0:36:47 | 0:36:49 | |
There's, I think, about now, there's some curfew, | 0:36:49 | 0:36:53 | |
meaning at a certain time, you can't come out, | 0:36:53 | 0:36:56 | |
so, basically, there's wars in the area | 0:36:56 | 0:36:59 | |
just going on and the police give curfews. | 0:36:59 | 0:37:01 | |
Imagine how much of a target we are. | 0:37:39 | 0:37:41 | |
I know, I hear it all the time. | 0:37:41 | 0:37:43 | |
It was supposed to be something to do with us, | 0:37:44 | 0:37:47 | |
cos there's a guy that came back before | 0:37:47 | 0:37:49 | |
and he was, like, they stabbed him and was asking, | 0:37:49 | 0:37:53 | |
"Who are the deportees? What's down there? Da-da-da-da..." | 0:37:53 | 0:37:57 | |
cos they know that the reason the plane came in, | 0:37:57 | 0:38:00 | |
whenever the plane comes in, they know there's deportees, most likely. | 0:38:00 | 0:38:04 | |
So, basically, this is meant for us, G. | 0:38:05 | 0:38:08 | |
It wasn't to do with him, it was the deportees. | 0:38:08 | 0:38:11 | |
They think we've got a bag of money coming down. | 0:38:11 | 0:38:14 | |
Back in Bangladesh, | 0:38:25 | 0:38:27 | |
I wanted to find out the truth about why Bok was sent to the UK | 0:38:27 | 0:38:30 | |
as a young boy. | 0:38:30 | 0:38:32 | |
He has suggested that he needed safe asylum, | 0:38:34 | 0:38:37 | |
but I'm wondering if he may have been sent as an economic migrant. | 0:38:37 | 0:38:40 | |
Since being deported back to Bangladesh, | 0:39:03 | 0:39:05 | |
Bok has struggled to find work in a country rife with poverty. | 0:39:05 | 0:39:09 | |
Men from here are regularly sent to the UK | 0:39:11 | 0:39:14 | |
to provide for family members back home. | 0:39:14 | 0:39:17 | |
In Britain, the Government faces particular pressure | 0:39:41 | 0:39:44 | |
to reduce the number of economic migrants. | 0:39:44 | 0:39:46 | |
The Home Office did not think Bok's evidence that he was in danger | 0:39:48 | 0:39:52 | |
in Bangladesh was compelling. | 0:39:52 | 0:39:54 | |
I'm dubious about his story that he was sent to Britain | 0:39:58 | 0:40:01 | |
to escape threats from his father's enemies... | 0:40:01 | 0:40:03 | |
..so I try to find out more about his dad. | 0:40:05 | 0:40:08 | |
That's my dad, but I don't remember seeing him like that. | 0:40:13 | 0:40:17 | |
I just remember him with a beard. So that's a very, very old photo. | 0:40:17 | 0:40:22 | |
I think about him. I just like to...whatever. | 0:40:25 | 0:40:29 | |
I have memory of him, I like to keep it to myself, | 0:40:29 | 0:40:31 | |
I don't like sharing his memory. | 0:40:31 | 0:40:33 | |
Not for me. | 0:40:48 | 0:40:49 | |
I don't remember. I just erase it from my memory and refresh it, so... | 0:40:50 | 0:40:57 | |
I'm OK with it. | 0:40:57 | 0:40:59 | |
Bok is clearly reluctant to talk about his dad, | 0:41:01 | 0:41:05 | |
so I ask his mum about his claim that he was sent to Britain | 0:41:05 | 0:41:08 | |
because of serious threats. | 0:41:08 | 0:41:10 | |
I want to get to the bottom of why Bok was sent to Britain. | 0:41:31 | 0:41:34 | |
He says he was taken in by a total stranger | 0:41:34 | 0:41:37 | |
when he arrived in Eastbourne, | 0:41:37 | 0:41:40 | |
but I'm beginning to suspect he was sent to live with a relative | 0:41:40 | 0:41:43 | |
to earn money for the family back in Bangladesh. | 0:41:43 | 0:41:46 | |
I do not have any relatives that I know of in the UK. | 0:41:55 | 0:41:57 | |
I am very much sure. | 0:41:59 | 0:42:00 | |
I ask Rob, Bok's closest friend in Britain, | 0:42:12 | 0:42:15 | |
who Bok stayed with when he arrived in Eastbourne. | 0:42:15 | 0:42:18 | |
As far as I'm aware, he was meant to be staying with his brother. | 0:42:21 | 0:42:25 | |
The communication was fairly basic that we could have... | 0:42:25 | 0:42:28 | |
..and he didn't really... | 0:42:30 | 0:42:31 | |
I didn't feel he wanted to massively talk about it, | 0:42:31 | 0:42:33 | |
so I didn't really want to push him on it any further. | 0:42:33 | 0:42:36 | |
In front of you, you have a piece of paper which is the electoral roll | 0:42:37 | 0:42:41 | |
that shows that you did actually have a family member in the UK | 0:42:41 | 0:42:45 | |
and that you were staying at the address where they were registered. | 0:42:45 | 0:42:49 | |
Well, now, obviously from what I found out, I do have, | 0:42:49 | 0:42:53 | |
but I wasn't aware back then, was I? | 0:42:53 | 0:42:55 | |
So I didn't see him and I'm not connected to him or nothing anyway. | 0:42:55 | 0:42:59 | |
I just don't...I just don't know. | 0:42:59 | 0:43:01 | |
I haven't spoke to him for a long time. | 0:43:01 | 0:43:03 | |
Did you go to England to live with this relative? | 0:43:05 | 0:43:07 | |
No, I certainly didn't go to England to live with this relative. | 0:43:08 | 0:43:12 | |
I did not. | 0:43:12 | 0:43:13 | |
I never find out why Bok denies living with a relative. | 0:43:20 | 0:43:23 | |
And it's unclear why he lost contact with them | 0:43:26 | 0:43:29 | |
and ended up in foster care. | 0:43:29 | 0:43:31 | |
It does seem a little bit strange that you come over here to meet a | 0:43:33 | 0:43:36 | |
relative and then you don't end up living with that relative. | 0:43:36 | 0:43:39 | |
Bok obviously got trafficked to this country | 0:43:42 | 0:43:44 | |
and then dumped and left to fend for himself, | 0:43:44 | 0:43:47 | |
to look after himself in a country where he didn't speak | 0:43:47 | 0:43:51 | |
the language and didn't know anyone. | 0:43:51 | 0:43:53 | |
Bok was given no choice about being trafficked out of Bangladesh | 0:43:55 | 0:43:58 | |
when he was just 11. | 0:43:58 | 0:44:00 | |
The painful reality, that his family send him as an economic migrant, | 0:44:04 | 0:44:09 | |
is hard for Bok to accept. | 0:44:09 | 0:44:11 | |
It was very, very important for me to believe | 0:44:23 | 0:44:25 | |
that my life was in danger, for me to go away, because, | 0:44:25 | 0:44:28 | |
otherwise, I don't see, personally, the age I was, why would I go there? | 0:44:28 | 0:44:32 | |
Why someone would want to have their child go away from them? | 0:44:32 | 0:44:37 | |
Why would they? | 0:44:37 | 0:44:39 | |
Against the odds, the young Bok built himself a life in Britain. | 0:44:42 | 0:44:46 | |
One that he'll probably never get back. | 0:44:49 | 0:44:51 | |
He wanted to take his education further and he wanted to... | 0:44:53 | 0:44:57 | |
This was his home. He called this home. | 0:44:57 | 0:44:59 | |
This is where he wanted to be, he wanted to live here, | 0:44:59 | 0:45:02 | |
he wanted to work, he wanted to be part of society, | 0:45:02 | 0:45:05 | |
so it literally just got ripped from underneath him, basically. | 0:45:05 | 0:45:08 | |
The truth is, I'm really deeply hurt and scared | 0:45:13 | 0:45:16 | |
and I don't know how to pull myself back together. I just... | 0:45:16 | 0:45:19 | |
..don't know. | 0:45:21 | 0:45:22 | |
In Cardiff, Bash has just received some huge news | 0:45:36 | 0:45:40 | |
from his lawyer, Vinita, about whether he can stay in Britain. | 0:45:40 | 0:45:44 | |
I sat down, I rang Vinita and I said, | 0:45:45 | 0:45:48 | |
"Hello," and she said, | 0:45:48 | 0:45:50 | |
"I'm sorry, Bash, your case has been refused. | 0:45:50 | 0:45:53 | |
"And... | 0:45:55 | 0:45:56 | |
"..I don't have anything to say." | 0:45:57 | 0:45:59 | |
She said, "I'm sorry. I tried my best," and everything. | 0:46:00 | 0:46:03 | |
Hi, can I book an appointment for an emergency, please? | 0:46:06 | 0:46:09 | |
I just had bad news about my case, so I just need to see my doctor. | 0:46:11 | 0:46:16 | |
Yeah, I have depression. I need my depression tablets as well. | 0:46:16 | 0:46:20 | |
Yeah, I can book an appointment. The doctor will ring me back. | 0:46:28 | 0:46:32 | |
You need to see this counsellor. | 0:46:34 | 0:46:37 | |
Ideally, you want to see her tomorrow. | 0:46:37 | 0:46:39 | |
-Mental health should be a priority in itself. -Yeah, definitely. | 0:46:41 | 0:46:44 | |
Had enough of this life. | 0:46:50 | 0:46:51 | |
I've had enough of this kind of situation. | 0:46:51 | 0:46:53 | |
Really had enough. | 0:46:56 | 0:46:57 | |
It's hurting each and every one of us. | 0:47:00 | 0:47:02 | |
I don't know how much heart... | 0:47:03 | 0:47:05 | |
..heartache we can take. | 0:47:06 | 0:47:07 | |
The only thing I was planning, it's in my mind to run away. | 0:47:09 | 0:47:13 | |
Because he knows now what to expect if he's arrested and detained... | 0:47:16 | 0:47:21 | |
..he's scared of going through that again. | 0:47:23 | 0:47:25 | |
So, what exactly are the Home Office saying in terms of why they've | 0:47:34 | 0:47:39 | |
refused for a case, Bash? | 0:47:39 | 0:47:43 | |
They're not accepting that he's not Westernised. | 0:47:43 | 0:47:45 | |
They're not accepting that he has a home life here. | 0:47:47 | 0:47:52 | |
People facing deportation, like Bash... | 0:48:16 | 0:48:19 | |
..have to sign in every few weeks with the Home Office. | 0:48:21 | 0:48:24 | |
Last October, Bash was detained after one of these sign-ins. | 0:48:25 | 0:48:29 | |
Today is his first sign-in since he lost his appeal. | 0:48:31 | 0:48:34 | |
There's a serious risk Bash could be detained again. | 0:48:40 | 0:48:44 | |
This is obviously the first sign-in since they made that decision, | 0:48:44 | 0:48:49 | |
since you have that decision, so it's just... | 0:48:49 | 0:48:52 | |
just nerve-racking, you know? | 0:48:52 | 0:48:54 | |
I'm terrified he won't come out. | 0:49:03 | 0:49:04 | |
I don't think I could cope through it again. | 0:49:07 | 0:49:11 | |
It's like having your heart ripped out of your chest and stamped on | 0:49:11 | 0:49:15 | |
by people who don't know us. | 0:49:15 | 0:49:16 | |
He's usually in...in and out within sort of five minutes, | 0:49:34 | 0:49:38 | |
but there seems to be a lot more people going in as well, | 0:49:38 | 0:49:42 | |
so whether that's got anything to do with it, I don't know. Not sure. | 0:49:42 | 0:49:46 | |
Francois is still desperate to get back to his son in London. | 0:50:32 | 0:50:35 | |
He says he's determined not to repeat | 0:50:37 | 0:50:40 | |
the mistakes his parents made. | 0:50:40 | 0:50:41 | |
I still feel it badly. | 0:50:43 | 0:50:46 | |
I always looked at myself like I was different from my friends... | 0:50:46 | 0:50:49 | |
..cos they all had their mums, dad, like... | 0:50:51 | 0:50:57 | |
They all had their little family, innit? | 0:50:57 | 0:50:59 | |
I never had that. For me, that was missing, | 0:50:59 | 0:51:02 | |
so there was always a rage. | 0:51:02 | 0:51:04 | |
As I got older, that kind of started to trigger off, | 0:51:06 | 0:51:11 | |
like the first time I got arrested. | 0:51:11 | 0:51:14 | |
It started just triggering off, like... | 0:51:14 | 0:51:16 | |
Today is the deadline for Francois to submit his appeal, | 0:51:22 | 0:51:26 | |
his only chance of a legal route back to Britain, | 0:51:26 | 0:51:30 | |
but he's struggling without the guidance of a lawyer. | 0:51:30 | 0:51:33 | |
His mum and gran are offering what help they can. | 0:51:37 | 0:51:40 | |
Unable to afford a lawyer or the fee for the appeal, | 0:52:44 | 0:52:48 | |
Francois says he won't be able to submit it on time. | 0:52:48 | 0:52:51 | |
It's worth pursuing, but I don't believe it will work, | 0:53:02 | 0:53:05 | |
if I'm being honest, in my point of view... | 0:53:05 | 0:53:07 | |
..cos it's logical that it won't work, | 0:53:08 | 0:53:11 | |
but I'm still going to pursue it to prove it don't work! | 0:53:11 | 0:53:14 | |
If the system don't work, | 0:53:20 | 0:53:22 | |
then you've got to find ways around the system... | 0:53:22 | 0:53:24 | |
..cos remember... | 0:53:26 | 0:53:28 | |
..forget what the system says, innit? | 0:53:30 | 0:53:32 | |
Can't let the system make a decision on your son's life. | 0:53:32 | 0:53:34 | |
Being honest. | 0:53:41 | 0:53:42 | |
What's going to happen? I'm going to get back to my son however I can. | 0:53:45 | 0:53:48 | |
That's what's going to happen. | 0:53:48 | 0:53:50 |