MIGRANT rights campaigners have welcomed the scrapping of plans to deport a young autistic man to Jamaica, but stressed it was a “grave injustice” that he was ever threatened with removal.

Osime Brown, 22, who left Jamaica at the age of four and has not been back since, was due to be deported from Britain, where he lives with his mother Joan Martin. 

She had been fighting a campaign to halt his removal, warning that if her son was deported to Jamaica where he has no friends, family or support network he would die. 

On Tuesday, the Home Office abandoned its plans to deport him, following protests in London and Glasgow at the weekend. 

In a statement after the decision was made, Ms Martin thanked all those who had supported her campaign.

“Without you my family would have been lost and my son, Osime, would have been condemned to a very short and miserable life,” she said.

Ms Martin said that she hoped their case would be a “learning curve” for those in power to “know that they are dealing with real people, real lives, and when they make wrong choices or decisions people are injured, sometimes to a point of no return.”  

Mr Brown, who is severely autistic, has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress syndrome and a heart condition.

Earlier this year the Morning Star reported how Mr Brown was rushed to hospital after his heart stopped. Ms Martin said his condition was brought on by stress over the deportation. 

Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) campaigns director Minnie Rahman said: “Sadly, Osime’s case exemplifies the cruel, chaotic and stubborn decision making at the heart of the Home Office.”

Mr Brown was handed a deportation order after being released from jail after he was charged under controversial joint enterprise laws for being present during the theft of a phone. 

He and his family deny that he was involved in the crime. Non-British residents who serve a sentence of 12 months or more are subject to automatic deportation under immigration laws. 

Ms Rahman said such deportations amount to a “double punishment” for people who have already served their sentences. 

“The immigration system must not be weaponised as an add-on to our biased criminal justice system and the Home Office must stop tearing people away from their homes, families and communities,” she added. 

Leicester East MP Claudia Webbe said: “I am delighted that the Home Office has seen common sense and halted the deportation of Osime Brown. That he was ever put forth for deportation is an utter disgrace.

“We must continue in our efforts to defeat the cruelty of this government so that we can build a society in which everyone is valued — no matter the colour of their skin or the country of their birth.”

Also issuing wider calls for action, Labour MP Apsana Begum said the Home Office must now review all deportation orders, especially concerning learning difficulties and ethnic minorities.  

Her fellow Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy said the “sheer pressure” needed to halt the deportation “shows how far we are from a Home Office that is rooted in compassion.”

A Home Office spokesperson said that the government department “reviews all cases when new information is provided and all decisions are made in accordance with the law.”