Up to three children born in Ireland were among 46 Nigerians deported from Ireland overnight in a swoop an immigration lobby group believes was timed to minimise public scrutiny.
A woman pregnant to an Irishman was also among those deported, despite her mother being granted leave to stay in this country on humanitarian grounds.
A Garda spokeswoman confirmed this morning that people from Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Tralee were deported under the terms of Section III of the Immigration Act 1999.
Concern that a mass deportation was about to take place was expressed yesterday by Residents Against Racism (RAR) after a series of arrests across the State in recent weeks.
Those arrested were held at Mountjoy Prison and Cloverhill Prison before being put on a plane for Lagos at Dublin Airport at around midnight.
RAR believes two or three of the children deported were born in Ireland. After last year’s citizenship referendum children here are no longer automatcially entitled to citizenship.
Spokesman Mark Grehan said the deportations were timed to coincide with the winding down of the court term and the Dáil summer recess. Some activists who would normally be in Ireland are in Scotland at the G8 Summit protests, Mr Grehan added.
All of those deported were Nigerian - among them at least four pregnant women. One of them, 20-year-old Cynthia Imiruyae was taken while her mother and her two under-18 siblings remained in Ireland.
Last year, Ms Imiruaye’s mother Juliet, a prominent campaigner against female genital mutilation - which is permitted in Nigeria - was granted leave to stay in the State. She was granted leave to stay on humanitarian grounds in a case that received political support including the backing of the Tánaiste Mary Harney.
Speaking in the Dáil last October, Ms Harney said: "Because of the contribution that Juliet made in relation to this issue and the contribution she has made to health services in general, and given that she asked me to intervene I was very happy to do that on her behalf".
Juliet Imiruaye was a victim of Female Genital Mutilation (FMG) and fled Nigeria six years ago because of her campaign against the practice.
"Cynthia phoned her mother just before she boarded the plane ... The danger is that she is just a young woman on her own in Lagos - she’s only 20 - and she doesn’t have her family around her," Mr Grehan said.
He was concerned that FMG was tolerated in the country but also that those deported would now be in the notorious Kirikiri Prison and in need of €75 to bribe their way out.
"Many of these people have been away for five years. Often when they return they no longer have any contacts," Mr Grehan said.