IMMIGRATION campaigners have slammed Theresa May and Amber Rudd for “ignoring” calls to stop the deportation of a Coatbridge mum.
Yesterday Derek Merry hit out at the UK Government for failing to respond after repeated calls to prevent the break-up of his family.
On Saturday wife Volha Merry, originally from Belarus, received a notice ordering her to leave the country within seven days or face detention and deportation.
The notice comes after the couple, whose daughter Milana is just two years old, lost a visa battle on the grounds that they failed to comply with Home Office rules surrounding a period of residence in Ireland before Milana’s birth in January 2016.
The couple say they more than met requirements and accuse the department of changing the rules. The case, revealed in The National on Monday, has sparked major public concern.
Fulton MacGregor, the family’s MSP, has written to Home Secretary Amber Rudd and Prime Minister Theresa May about the case, but no responses have yet been received. External Affairs Minister Fiona Hyslop has also sent an official letter.
A motion calling for the UK Government to let Olya stay has now been lodged by MacGregor at the Scottish Parliament. It notes that Milana will leave the UK with her mother if help is not secured, and will therefore lose her British nationality as Belarus does not allow dual citizenship. Last night 30 MSPs from the SNP, Greens and Labour had added their support.
Meanwhile, supermarket worker Derek has appeared on Radio Scotland accusing the cabinet ministers of ignoring their plight.
He said: “I would assume they will at some point, if she doesn’t willingly leave, they’re going to come to the door.
“It absolutely terrifies me to death, I don’t want to lose my wife and my daughter. What father wants to lose their family?
“We’ve tried to get the Home Secretary, we’ve tried to get the Prime Minister, but we’re just being ignored. We’re citizens of this country and they are ignoring us, this is our government that is doing this to their own people.”
Responding to the case, Chai Patel of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants – an independent charity promoting justice, fairness and equality in immigration and asylum law and policy – told The National: “Three years ago we wrote a report for the Children’s Commissioner of England on the incalculable harm Theresa May’s family migration rules were doing to young children separated from their parents. The stories we told in that report, and the words from the children themselves, are heart-rending.
“Since then, following our intervention in the case, the Supreme Court told the Home Office it had been unlawfully failing to take into account the best interests of children for years. New cases like this one make it apparent that neither Theresa May or Amber Rudd are listening, nor do they understand the need for families to be together.”
The Home Office says it does not comment on individual cases.
Olya said: “It’s absolutely heartbreaking for us. I can’t explain to my daughter what’s going on.”
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