Ernesto Leal was arrested on May 1st, taken from his home and sent to Belmarsh high security Prison where he was kept on a 23 hour lockdown, to await a deportation hearing. After 7 days he was moved to to Forest Bank HMP in Manchester where he was incarcerated for nearly a month.
He was imprisoned as part of The Home Office round up of foreign criminals, a week before the elections in England, as what has been described as 'politically motivated' and 'a knee jerk reaction to electoral pressures'. He was served with deportation papers.
Within 2 hours of hearting of Ernesto's arrest, Fabriko had a campaigning website up and running. The site attraced well over 400 registered users within a week. The campaign, run by Ernesto's family, gained the support of individuals, Members of Parliament, trades unions and other organisations.