UK Students Fight Deportation of Classmate Yashika Bageerathi

British students from Oasis Academy in Enfield are fighting against the deportation of one of their classmates following a Home Office indication that Yashika Bageerathi must be sent back to Mauritius.

Bageerathi – who came to the UK with her family in 2012 in order to “escape abuse and danger” – is currently being held at the Yarl’s Wood detention centre while her case is reviewed by Britain’s immigration authorities. Friends fear that because she has turned 18, her case has been separated from her family, and she faces solitary explusion from the UK back to Mauritius.

An online petition which has over 1200 signatories claims that “She has been told she will be imminently deported alone to a country where she has neither friends nor family. This is against Article 8 of the Human Rights Act”.

The civil liberties group Liberty states on its YourRights.org.uk website: “Separation of family members will normally constitute an interference with the right to respect for family life” but goes on to state: “…the courts have been reluctant to find that deportation is a violation of Article 8”.

But this isn’t deterring the hundreds of students at Oasis Academy, who have been garnering petition signatures, tweeting at influencers, and seeking to raise the profile of Yashika’s case. On Sunday, a group will head to Parliament Square to raise awareness. 

Local Conservative Member of Parliament David Burrowes tweeted at Oasis Sixth Form’s Twitter account: “am doing all I can to #FightForYashika and support her. Have made contact with Home Office to try and urgently stop deportation”.

The petition, which has been support by local community members as well as teachers at Oasis Academy states: “To deport Yashika at any stage would cost the UK a valuable member of society. To do so just weeks before she is about to complete her education would be an uncompassionate and illogical act of absurdity. 
Yashika is an integral member of our community. She is a friend, a sister, a daughter and a much loved student. Please let her come home to Oasis Academy Hadley”.

The Home Office does not comment on individual cases.