Families who received notices asking them to agree to return to their home countries are pleading with the Home Office to give them more time to make a decision that will significantly affect their children’s future.
The Home Office has targeted 150 families whose asylum claims were rejected and given them just seven days to make the decision, which would uproot their children from adopted schools and communities. Those who refuse to leave the country voluntarily may be forcibly removed and handcuffed, including children.
The Home Office announced the new pilot scheme a week ago, asking families to opt for an accelerated voluntary return to their home countries with the benefit of “return home” payments of up to £10,000 per family member, up to a total of £40,000.
Families who received emails from the Home Office said they are being pressured to leave the UK quickly. They are distraught at the prospect of them and their children being hastily deported from the UK to their home countries, where they believe their lives are still at risk.
The father of a teenage girl studying GCSEs said: “My wife is in complete shock, enveloped in a cloud of grief, sobbing at the thought of leaving this country that has been our home for the past few years. “My daughter has to leave behind all her dreams of graduating from school and passing her GCSEs with flying colours.
“We are completely devastated, tremendously scared, as if an atomic bomb had exploded around us; our little world has crumbled at our feet. Hope is no longer an opportunity for us.”
Another mother of a teenager said she was terrified of what would happen to her and her son if they had to return to their home country.
“Both my son and I are taking medication for depression and anxiety. We need help to stay in the UK. There is no safe place for us in our home country. If we do not accept voluntary return, we will be forced to leave. I need more time to think about what is the safest thing we can do next. I want to ask the Home Office to delay the seven-day deadline for making a decision,” she said.
The first father added: “It all started when I received a message from the Ministry of the Interior threatening me, my wife and my teenage daughter with requesting voluntary return to our country of origin or facing merciless deportation.
“I told a Home Office representative that our family is not interested in your universal credit, taxpayer accommodation or any other financial support. They responded coldly as if they did not hear my words: ‘If you do not return, we will definitely deport you and your family, and if you or your son try to escape, our officers will handcuff you, your son and your wife and put you all on a plane using physical force.’ In other words, using violence.”
The pilot scheme will be reviewed as part of a consultation stating that, unlike previous guidance, the use of force, including handcuffing children, could be used for the purpose of effecting removal, not just to protect children from the risk of harming themselves or others.
The document continues: “This means that physical management of a child as a last resort to overcome noncompliance is an unfortunate but necessary and justified intervention.”
According to the document, last year 97% of family expulsions were voluntary: 1,159 compared to only 17 families expelled by force.
The first father said his family hoped to find a way to stay in the UK. “If we are forced to leave, we want to thank this beautiful country and its people for welcoming us and treating us, many times, as one of your own. We leave behind true new friends, acquaintances and helpful strangers, who will be in our hearts for the rest of our lives.”
Home Office sources said they would not provide ongoing comment before the pilot concluded.
