LONDON. Before December 31, 2020, Italian and other European citizens could travel easily to the United Kingdom for work or leisure. However, after the concretisation of Brexit, one can be detained without a visa or the necessary documentation and held for several days as it has happened to dozens of Italians and EU citizens since January according to diplomatic sources to Republic, “burst into tears,” and live “a horrible nightmare.” Rule number one in the removal center: no photos nor videos. Cell phones are seized because British authorities “do not want images to be spread,” says in an exclusive interview with la Republic, Marta Lo Martire, a 24-year-old woman from the Puglia region and graduate at the Academy of Fine Arts in Verona. Marta tells us that just a few weeks ago, she was detained by British border authorities at Heathrow Airport, transferred in the middle of the night to the nearby “Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre” (defined as a “prison” even by Google Maps), and deported with a flight to Milan the day after.
“Actually, it was the border agents at Heathrow who told me they were taking me to ‘prison,’ something I understood when I looked up the word in Google Translator, as I don’t speak English well,” tells us Marta over the phone. “I couldn’t make sense of it. I hadn’t done anything wrong. I thought I had the correct documentation. Instead, I found myself surrounded by walls with barbed wire, windows with bars, huge security gates. It was a shock. Once inside, I burst into tears; it was inconceivable to me. They told me, ‘Don’t worry, you’re safe.’ But I was like, ‘How can I be safe in a place like that?’”
Last January a Covid break-up was reported at Colnbrook center, which is located in Boris Johnson’s costituency, Uxbridge. In 2015, a Guardian investigation informed that in this prison, ‘there are no windows, no wind. The men all suffer from mental health problems.’ In the United Kingdom, another ‘Immigration Removal Centre’ was under investigation for ‘negligence’ after the death of 34-year-old Oscar Lucky Okwurime, a Nigerian asylum seeker detained at Harmondsworth Removal Centre.
Marta’s cousin, Giuseppe Pichierri, an Italian doctor and microbiologist working for NHS in the UK, who has been living in London for almost 15 years, is appalled by what happened: “We are furious and outraged, my English wife and father-in-law cannot understand what is happening to their country.” Pichierri tried to bail Marta out without success: “And yet we are resident citizens,” he explains to la Repubblica, “we are respectable citizens; they should have granted her bail, as they did with other people. Besides, we had spoken with Paul Scully, the Conservative MP for the London constituency where we live [and a Business minister], and they assured us there would be no problem”.
Not so. Giuseppe had sent his cousin Marta a letter signed by him to enter the UK as an au pair, welcoming her for some time in his family. Due to COVID and the suspension of tourism and leisure travel, non-residents could enter the UK only for work purposes in recent months. However, Marta had not applied for the required work visa. Giuseppe’s letter gave reasons for travelling family reunification and an offer of work with the possibility of remuneration. Border authorities did not consider it sufficient according to the new rules approved by the Home Secretary of Boris Johnson’s cabinet, Eurosceptic ‘hawk’ Priti Patel. A daughter of refugees, she adopted an iron fist strategy against irregular immigration. In recent months, Patel has repeatedly said, “thanks to Brexit, there will be no more fast-tracks for Europeans, and the same rules will apply to them.”
However, until a few months ago, European citizens could travel freely to the United Kingdom. Few Italians or Europeans believed that, despite Brexit, they risked being sent to jail. But Marta tells us that’s exactly what happens if you don’t have the right documentation. “On the morning of April 17, I left Brindisi, had a stopover in Milan, and arrived in London in the afternoon, where I thought I was going to stay with my cousins.”
And then what happened, Marta?
“They checked my papers, and I showed them my cousin’s letter offering me an au pair position, specifying all the duties I had to perform. It was my first international trip; I tried to explain my cousin was my employer and that I would be staying with his family. But then they seized my suitcases and personal belongings, searched me, asked me questions, locked me in a small room under surveillance at the airport. Until 4 a.m.”
That’s when they took you to the removal center?
“Yes, because they told me I couldn’t stay in that small room at the airport for 24 hours. So, in the middle of the night, at 4 a.m., they transferred me to a room ‘with more facilities.’ Even though they later told me, ‘It’s a prison’!’”
So the border authorities admitted it?
“Yes, Google Translator, through which we communicated, said ’prison.’”
Did it look like one?
“Yes, it did. Barbed wire atop the walls, bars on windows, and huge security gates… It was quite a shock. I couldn’t get over it, ‘I’m in prison!’ I burst into tears. I asked the guards if I could see my cousin Giuseppe, even in their presence, because he speaks English very well. But initially, they said no.”
You couldn’t call Giuseppe?
“No, because they seized my cell phone. They told me I couldn’t keep my phone because it has a camera; they feared I might take videos or photos I could send outside. So they took it away from me. My cousin and family didn’t know what happened to me. Later, they gave me an old phone without a camera. But there was no credit. I tried to recharge it, but I only had euros, and they only accepted pounds. So I called Giuseppe from the prison payphones, and that’s how he was able to reach me.”
Did they seize all your possessions during your detention?
“Yes, everything. Suitcase, wallet, money, phone: they put all my belongings in sealed bags with my name on them. They asked me if I needed a change of clothes for the night.”
So did it actually look like prison?
“There is very little difference, although the authorities there do everything they can to put you at ease. But every step you take, a guard follows you. The doors are closed. And you get searched. I’ve lost count of how many times I got searched.”
Even when you were in the center?
“Yes, They searched me head to toe. They also took my fingerprints and pictures of me.”
What was the room like where you spent the night?
“Bars on windows, there were three beds in the room, but I was the only guest, then two desks and a security door with a small round window. I asked them to leave the door unlocked, as It would make me feel even worse. They agreed.”
How long did you spend in the center?
“I had a fortune in my misfortune because they found me a flight back to Italy the next day. I left on Sunday, April 18, at 7 p.m. I spent about 12 hours in the removal center. They escorted me until I sat on the plane to make sure I was deported. Just before boarding my flight, they finally gave me back my personal belongings, my suitcase, and my smartphone at the boarding gate. I got my passport back only after landing in Milan.”
Did you see other girls in Colnbrook women’s wing where you were detained?
“There was another girl from Tuscany; I can’t remember her name. I remember she too was 24 years old like me and had already been there for five days. She also didn’t know why. She thought she had not been given a return flight right away because the return ticket cost more than what she had paid for.”
What state was the girl in?
“She spent four days on her own; then, on the fifth day, they brought two more girls. She told me the first few days she was going crazy; it was ‘a horrible nightmare’. Always alone, no contact, her cell phone had also been seized, and she couldn’t remember her family members’ phone numbers. She had to wait for them to find her.”
I guess you now have a deportation stamp on your passport.
“Yes, there is a Heathrow Airport stamp with the date and a cross over it.”
This may be a problem in the future if you want to work abroad.
“I hope not, at least that’s what I’ve been told. But the next border agent who will see at that cross in my passport will look at me with suspicion.”
translated by Barbara Bacci
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