THE Scottish Government will fight to keep Olya Merry with her family in Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon said yesterday.
The First Minister said the Coatbridge woman’s case and the Windrush scandal prove the need for a “humane” system. The comments came before the 28-year-old, from Belarus, met the SNP leader with husband Derek and two-year-old daughter Milana.
The National revealed how they faced separation after the Home Office ordered her to leave the UK in a seven-day notice. This has since been suspended following representations from politicians including External Affairs Secretary Fiona Hyslop.
After yesterday’s meeting, Derek said: “She gave me a hug and said it will be okay. She said she’d support us through this.
“She was an absolute diamond. We feel more confident now.”
Responding to a call for support by the family’s MSP Fulton MacGregor, Sturgeon referenced the Windrush row, which has seen people of Caribbean descent threatened with deportation, saying: “We will continue to make appropriate representations to give the Merry family the peace of mind they require around the right of Mrs Merry to live permanently in Coatbridge with her husband and her daughter.
“I think this case and the appalling treatment of the children of the Windrush generation that we have seen come to light this week demonstrate, perhaps more clearly than anything has previously, that we urgently need across the whole of the UK a humane immigration system, not the hostile environment that Theresa May has been so keen to put in place.
“We need a system that respects human dignity, that recognises individual circumstances, and a system that isn’t focused on arbitrarily cutting numbers and forcing people unjustly to leave the country that they have come to call home.”
To support the family, sign the Save Olya petition by following this link.
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