Scots girl's trauma at being herded on to deportation jet

Published on Tuesday 24 November 2009 21:50

THE mother of a Glasgow schoolgirl saved from deportation has said her daughter wept as they were driven to the airport to be sent back to Malawi.

Florence Mhango, 32, an asylum seeker, said she was "traumatised" after being returned to an immigration removal centre on Monday night, having already boarded a plane due to depart within the hour.

Florence and Precious, ten, must now wait to hear whether they will be allowed to return to their home in Glasgow, having lived in the UK for the past seven years.

Speaking from her room at Yarls Wood Removal Centre in England, to which they were transferred from Dungavel last Wednesday, Florence said: "I'm so traumatised, I don't know what will happen. I want to call my lawyer today, but there's no credit (on the mobile phone]."

Although they remain in the UK for now, she and Precious could still be sent back to Malawi in the future.

Florence said of her daughter: "She was crying on the way to the airport."

Friends and neighbours of the Mhangos in Cranhill, Glasgow, are raising awareness of their situation, and funds to pay their legal fees.

"They are amazing," Florence said. "I had no idea they loved us so much."

On Monday, the Rev Muriel Pearson, the minister at Cranhill Parish Church, said that, as well as a Facebook campaign garnering support for the Mhangos, there was a paper petition going round the local community, which the organisers plan to send to UK immigration minister Phil Woolas.

Anne McLaughlin, MSP, yesterday spoke to advocate Paul Chen, QC, who is representing Ms Mhango and Precious and lodged the judicial review that stopped the deportation from Heathrow to Malawi.

"The advocate has seven days to submit full grounds for the judicial review to the court and to the Home Office for consideration," the MSP said. "If the Home Office decides to expedite the judicial review, it could take place in the next month or so – otherwise, it'll take place several months from now, which is what should happen here."

A UK Border Agency spokesman confirmed that Ms Mhango and Precious would remain in Yarls Wood at least until Mr Chen's papers had been read.

It was likely, Ms McLaughlin said, that the Mhangos would then be released, to await the judicial review. "It's fairly standard practice. There are very few people that think children should be kept in detention.

"What we need to do next is get the money together to pay for the judicial review," Ms McLaughlin said. The cost, she estimates, will be about 3,000, which the Cranhill community is trying to raise urgently through donations.

The MSP added: "Florence just wants her daughter to be settled – she herself is settled in Cranhill, she's got a community that loves her. They've gone through the proper procedures and have done everything as they should have done it.

"Being held in detention is a terrible experience for a child and most that go there have already been through tough times (as asylum seekers]."

A spokesman for the UK Border Agency in Scotland and Northern Ireland has reiterated that the Mhangos have Malawian nationality.

Director Phil Taylor said yesterday: "We would much rather that families whom our courts have found do not qualify for asylum or for humanitarian protection leave the UK voluntarily.

"The decision to detain a family before removal only happens as a last resort, because the parents refuse to take the opportunity to go home under their own steam with assistance from the Home Office and the International Organisation for Migration."