A group of Jamaicans living in the U.K., who were scheduled to be deported this week, were granted a reprieve by British officials in acknowledgment that some of the members may have been victims of modern slavery.

According to The Independent, the deportation policies upheld by government officials have been brought into question after at least nine people were taken off a deportation flight to Jamaica hours before takeoff Wednesday due to the legal intervention.

A 30-year-old man who came to the U.K. at age 11 had his deportation reversed the evening before his scheduled flight after confirmation from the U.K.’s Home Office that he had indicators of once being trafficked by gangs in his youth.

The Home Office, which is responsible for the immigration, security and law and order departments, has struck a deal with Jamaica not to deport those who arrived in the U.K. under the age of 12, according to The Guardian. After being referred to the National Referral Mechanism, the sovereign country’s framework for addressing human trafficking, officials evaluated the man’s case and determined that it is likely he may have been trafficked, and thus, shouldn’t be deported.

The Jamaican-born man told The Independent that “it was devastating to be waiting because I knew that flight was going in the night, but I’m so relieved now.”

“I don’t know what I would’ve done if I was sent out there. I would’ve been stuck in limbo. I would’ve had to leave my family behind," he added.

The 30-year-old is a father of two girls, ages 6 and 7, who are both British citizens.

Additionally, The Guardian reported that the legal action of a scheduled deportee's two children had been denied. The siblings argued on behalf of their father that the current deportation policy was unlawful because the Home Office had failed to properly evaluate the best interests of children whose parents are expected to be deported. Although their father was removed from the flight in a separate legal action, officials denied the move to look into the best interests of all the children whose parents were expected to be deported.

One unidentified man expected to be on the flight told The Guardian that it felt like the British government was torturing him for his nationality.

“I’ve lived here for 20 years. What the Home Office is doing to us is like torture. They are killing us. My life is here, my kids are here. I can’t bring myself to tell my kids I’m being deported. I’m not a murderer, I’m not a rapist. I made a mistake by selling drugs,” he said.

Ernesto Elliot, 43, was told by his legal team that a judge had ruled he should be taken off the flight on the grounds that his deportation could adversely affect his family life.

Elliot, a father of four, was detained because he was convicted of possessing an air gun in 2017. He served a year and a half in jail for the incident. The nearly deported father said just the thought of not seeing his children was traumatic enough and he appreciates being able to be around them again.

“I was really thinking I wasn’t going to be around the kids anymore. The impact it would have on them was plain to see,” Elliot said. “I think I would have gone crazy. Me and my daughter have a real father-daughter bond. It would’ve affected that. I will be so happy to see the family again.”

According to The Independent, Detention Action, a charitable organization that campaigns for an end to indefinite detention in the U.K., has been approved by the court to intervene in the children’s case. The organization's director, Bella Sankey, said it was likely that if 28 people had been deported on Wednesday’s flight, approximately 100 children would have been without a parent.

Sankey said the charity has amassed evidence that proves the Home Office had failed to evaluate the needs of the children in “gross injustice with irreversible consequences.”

In February, the government attempted to deport British residents to Jamaica. According to The Guardian, the Home Office had planned to make 50 deportations via the February flight, but a number of the passengers were stopped due to a court of appeal injunction on concerns of access to justice.

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