Asylum seeker family can stay – for now

Feb 16 2008 by Jule Wilson, The Journal

A FAMILY of asylum seekers has been granted a last-minute reprieve as they were about to be deported yesterday.

Kunle Odomusu, 39, his wife Iviat, 36, and their eight-year-old daughter Ayomide, who they brought to Britain as a baby, were snatched from their home in Byker, Newcastle, by immigration officers in a dawn raid on Wednesday, according to friends.

Members and supporters of Tyneside Community Action for Refugees staged a demonstration outside Government Offices North East in Newcastle’s Gallowgate yesterday morning, and were relieved the family’s case was to be given further consideration.

Annie Rutter, 25, a youth worker from the west end of Newcastle, said: “There is something sinister about immigration officials knocking on a family’s door at 6am, snatching them away and the next contact you have with them is from a detention centre at the other side of the country.”

The trio were due to be put on a flight from London at 12.30pm yesterday, but news filtered through that they were still in the country and heading back to Yarl’s Wood Detention Centre near Heathrow. Kunle, speaking from Yarl’s Wood last night, said: “They took us to the airport this morning, and my wife and my daughter started crying.

“It’s great that I’m still in England. It’s very lovely because they would kill me if I went back to Nigeria.”

Allegedly, Kunle and his family’s application for asylum had been under consideration by Home Office officials, but their claim was rejected after Kunle was accused of working illegally.

In 2002, the right to undertake paid work was taken away from most asylum seekers, who are excluded from normal benefits, surviving on state hand-outs 30% below the income support minimum.

The couple, of Finchale Terrace, have already lost all trace of three of their other children, who would be 16, 14 and 10, as a result of the conflict in their home country.

It is now hoped the decision to deport the family will be overturned and they will be able to return to their home on Tyneside.

A Border and Immigration Agency spokesperson said: “We do not comment on individual cases. However we only remove people whose asylum claims have been dismissed by an independent judge.

“Even then, their welfare is of the utmost importance, and their removal should be swift and handled with compassion.”