When 30 police raided Ernesto Leal’s London home on Mayday to cart him off to Belmarsh Detention Centre it was not the safety of the public that was being protected but the Home Secretary’s career, as Labour pulls out all the stops to show how tough it is on immigration and crime in fear that its losing working class voters to the BNP. Ernesto’s family fled Chile in the 1970s to escape Pinochet’s coup, arriving in Scotland where they were adopted by the Fife mining community and became active in social justice struggles. Ernesto grew up and made his home in Britain and has a UK passport.

In 2004 he was convicted of grievous bodily harm, his first and only offence, as a result of a racially motivated pub brawl. Now Ernesto faces deportation to Jamaica – a country he has never visited or had any connection with. Ernesto’s sister Sonia told SchNEWS, “Ernesto did commit a crime, which he served his time for in an open prison because he was not considered a threat to the public. No reason has been given as to why he would be deported to Jamaica.”

Ernesto’s family are asking people to contact their MP and the Home Office (phone 0208 196 0942 fax 0208 196 0930) asking why Ernesto Leal (reference L306526) is being deported.