The mother of a six-year-old cancer survivor has spoken of her “overwhelming” fear that her daughter will be denied crucial treatment due to the government’s crackdown on immigration.
The girl, from London, underwent two rounds of life-saving chemotherapy after being diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a rare cancer that mainly affects children, at the age of two.
He had a tumor removed on his fourth birthday and is currently receiving specialist care at the capital’s Great Ormond Street Hospital.
The girl’s mother, who did not want to be identified, said she feared her daughter’s medical care would be stripped away as a result of immigration changes that would take effect next month.
He told The Guardian: “I live in fear that one day our visa application will be rejected and the police will come and force us to return to Togo. Here my daughter has the medical care she needs. She cannot survive in Togo. We cannot return.”
The girl’s mother moved to Britain from Togo, in West Africa, with her husband for work in 2017, when he had a diplomatic post and she worked as a cleaner.
The family were due to qualify for indefinite leave to stay next year, a decade after their arrival, which meant they would no longer have to spend thousands of pounds renewing their visa every two and a half years.
However, immigration changes due to come into effect in April mean the family now faces another 10-year wait before being granted status, and any future visa applications could be rejected under stricter rules.
Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, is doubling the time needed before many people can gain settlement rights from five to ten years as part of hardline immigration reforms. The changes will also make it more difficult to stay in the country for people who have relied on social support to obtain indefinite leave, with longer waiting periods.
Praxis, the charity supporting the woman’s family, said the government’s plans were to “punish families like hers who need support during medical crises”.
The woman, who has two children, had to leave her job as a cleaner to care for her seriously ill daughter when her husband died two years ago. He now relies on disability welfare, a lifeline he fears could be taken away from him in his next visa application.
She said the “stress and uncertainty” of the changes were causing her mental health problems: “It’s exhausting and unfair. I wake up every morning feeling angry and anxious. It’s adding more and more stress to families like mine,” she said.
Addressing government ministers, she added: “I came to you because I am helpless and you helped me. Then you changed your mind and punished me.”
She said her daughter, who will turn seven in October, had been in “life or death” limbo after two rounds of chemotherapy. The treatment has left him with vision and hearing problems.
The woman said she had been trying to find work and had job interviews in November, including on days she had to take her daughter to the hospital. But she said her daughter’s health problems meant she found it difficult to keep work: “Who would give you a job when you have to juggle all this?”
He added: “My daughter’s illness cannot be controlled, it cannot be helped, but the government creates stress for no reason. Despite all my problems, I see my daughter and I am happy. I could not have dreamed that she would be well.”
Ministers face opposition from Labor MPs over the plans, which have been seen as an attempt to combat the rise of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
Olivia Blake, Labor MP for Sheffield Hallam, said on Tuesday that the changes would “lock hundreds of thousands of workers into decades of insecurity” and that the reforms went “against British values of fairness”.
Praxis said hundreds of activists from nursing unions and charities will organize a “mass lobby” of MPs in the House of Commons on Wednesday.
The Home Office declined to comment on the family’s case but said it was taking steps to address “challenges caused by unprecedented levels of migration under the previous government”.
A spokesperson added: “If no action is taken, around 350,000 low-skilled workers and their dependents will be entitled to a deal, gaining access to benefits, free healthcare and social housing, costing taxpayers £10bn.
“It is a privilege, not a right, to settle in the UK and it must be earned, rewarding contribution and those who follow the rules.”
