When the Guardian first spoke to María on Friday she was at Yarl’s Wood and scared that she had been exposed to Covid. Instead, she was sent to Yarl’s Wood, where she spent three anxious days.
María said that when Border Force officials at Gatwick said they would expel her, she offered to pay for a flight home the same day. María, 25, from Valencia, said that like many of those detained, she thought she was free to explore the job market at least until October, especially since she had lived and worked in the UK before.
The two Spanish women were detained at Gatwick on 2 and 3 May after arriving on separate flights from Valencia and Bilbao. It is understood one French man was held at Edinburgh airport for 48 hours recently, while the Bulgarian ambassador to the UK confirmed a number of his nationals had been held at immigration removal centres. Other countries whose citizens have been held at a UK airport or detention centre include Italy, France, Bulgaria and Greece. Some were sent two hours’ drive away to Yarl’s Wood detention centre in Bedfordshire, where a Covid scare meant they were confined to their rooms. In other cases, visitors are clearly breaking rules, such as those now barring EU citizens from taking up unpaid internships.Īt least a dozen European citizens – mostly young women – were detained and expelled at Gatwick airport alone over 48 hours last week, two female Spanish detainees told the Guardian. Confusion about whether EU citizens can explore the UK job market and then go home with an offer in order to apply for a work visa has added to the growing number of detentions.
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