63 deported from Ireland land to South Africa amid controversy on both sides
THE chartered flight touched down at OR Tambo International Airport just after 4 am on Sunday morning, Irish time. On board were 63 people - 28 men, 26 women, and nine children - who had all, in the eyes of the Irish state, exhausted every legal avenue available to them. They were South African nationals, removed under deportation orders, and they arrived back in a country roiling with its own debates about who belongs, who is welcome, and on what terms. It was the second charter removal flight from Ireland this year, and the eighth since such operations resumed in…
