The Home Office has sparked outrage following claims it told a five-year-old girl she must leave the UK ‘immediately’.
An investigation published by The Independent on Friday revealed the child was told she could not stay in the UK while her mother fought a deportation case.
Living in the UK for more than 19 years, the mother, from Nigeria, was informed she could remain in the UK while she challenges the refusal of her leave to remain application.
The online paper reports that her daughter, who was born in the UK and has never visited Nigeria, must go.
A letter from the Home Office to the child’s case worker said: “You applied as a family member (child). Your application has been refused. You do not have a right to appeal this decision because your human rights claim has been certified as clearly unfounded. You must now leave the United Kingdom.”
The mother, who has lived in the UK since she was 16, told The Independent: “When I heard it I started crying, saying this is bad. It is very, very bad.
“Where would she go? Who would she stay with? I felt so bad about it. They can’t do that. It’s not safe.”
The mother said that apart from from her elderly mother who still resides in Nigeria, there is no one else who could look after her child.
She added: “I have no friends in Nigeria, there is nobody I know there. It’s here that I have friends and people to help me. If I went back I would feel very unsafe. I don’t know anyone there.”
The decision to remove the girl has now been temporarily reversed with the right to appeal reinstated, following a challenge from the mother’s case worker.
A Home Office spokesperson told The Independent: “We expect all visa applications to be carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with the Immigration Rules.
“We apologise to the family for an administrative error and are in contact with them to make amendments.”
Reactions
Unsurprisingly, the Home Office’s conduct was slammed by commentators, with many quick to take to social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, to express their outrage.
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