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Here’s how you can support the campaign to stop the deportation of Osime Brown

Osime Brown – a Black 21-year-old autistic man with learning disabilities – is facing deportation from his home in Britain to Jamaica. He was imprisoned in 2018 under the joint enterprise act for the theft of a mobile phone, and lost his leave to remain. The Home Office now intends to deport Brown from his home in Britain to Jamaica, a country he left when he was four years old.

Throughout his tumultuous life, Brown has been systematically failed by the services that were supposed to protect him – the education, health and social care, and criminal justice systems. Brown has a learning disability, has high support needs, and now suffers from anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of his distress. Regarding the Home Office’s plan to deport her son to Jamaica, Brown’s mother said:

He doesn’t have anybody there. He hasn’t been back to Jamaica, he doesn’t know Jamaica. When he found out the Home Office wanted to remove him he said: “Mum, is there a bus that I can come back on?” His removal would be a death sentence.

She told the Independent:

He wouldn’t cope. If he can’t even cope here, how is he going to cope in a environment and a culture he doesn’t know? He would be exploited because of his vulnerability.

34 MPs have signed a letter calling on home secretary Priti Patel to halt the planned deportation of Brown, saying:

If Osime is deported, it is our and his mother’s belief that he will die.

#StopTheDeportation

Brown’s family have taken to social media to call for a twitterstorm at 7pm on 25 February to raise awareness about his case and stop the planned deportation:

They have shared a useful thread on how people can get involved in the online campaign:

They encourage those taking part to tag the official @FreeOsimeBrown page and to use hashtags to ensure the campaign is impactful:

Who will be joining?

Emma Taylor shared some information about Brown’s case and how to get involved in the twitterstorm:

One Twitter user has shared a reminder for those taking part in the twitterstorm to tag their MPs to make sure the word gets out:

Another user has shared graphics that people can use to draw attention to the cause:

Bill Ward shared a helpful reminder that users can schedule tweets using sites such as Tweetdeck:

How else can I help?

As Aimee-Nicole has highlighted, people can sign the petition to halt the deportation:

Another Twitter user has shared the template people can use to write to the Home Office and their MP, calling on them to end the injustice:

Supporters can also donate to the campaign fundraiser.

However we choose to support the campaign, we must use our collective voice to demand justice for Brown and send a loud, clear message that we do not accept the Home Office’s plans to put a vulnerable young man into an extremely dangerous situation.

Featured image via @FreeOsimeBrown/Twitter

By Sophia Purdy-Moore

This post was originally published on The Canary.