Thomas Baldwin reports on a Church of Scotland challenge to existing illegal immigration policies

NEWS

The Church of Scotland is backing a new campaign to challenge the UK Government’s approach to illegal immigration which campaigners say is leading to destitution, discrimination and distrust. Church oicials have joined forces with the Baptist Union, Methodist Church and United Reformed Church to call for a review of policies that have created a hostile environment which encourages “suspicion” of the other.

The campaign follows the Wfindrush scandal, in which Commonwealth citizens who had been legally in the UK for decades, and their families faced deportation, loss of homes, jobs and access to NHS treatment because they could not prove their status. And in Scotland, particularly Glasgow, Church ministers and members have recently been involved in a series of cases where asylum seekers have been threatened with deportation to an uncertain future in their countries of origin.

The Rev Brian Casey of Springburn Parish Church in Glasgow led a successful campaign to prevent Giorgi Kakava, a 10-year-old orphan asylum seeker in his parish, and his grandmother Ketino Baikhadze from being deported to Georgia, where his life is allegedly threatened by people his late father is said to have owed money to.

Giorgio’s mother Sopio died in February after a long illness and Ketino is now his legal guardian. Over 71,000 people backed a campaign organised by Mr Casey calling for the pair to be allowed to stay. After the Prime Minister promised that the case would be re-examined, Giorgi and Ketino were given permission to stay in Glasgow for at least two-and-a-half years.

Mr Casey said: “I am so pleased that the Home Secretary has intervened in this case and has secured Giorgi’s immediate future here in Scotland with his grandmother. “Jesus himself was a refugee and the Church stands with all those who have no home and who lack hope.”

“Whilst I am delighted that Giorgi is safe, the ight goes on for others in similar circumstances.”

Those others include Maqsood Bakhsh, who led Pakistan in 2012 with his wife Parveen and their two young sons after Islamic extremists threatened to kill him because of his religious beliefs.

However the Home Oice has rejected their applications for asylum on the grounds that oicials do not believe the family would be at risk in Pakistan.

The Rev Lfinda Pollock of Possilpark Parish Church is ighting to stop the Christian family from being deported.

Ms Pollock said she prayed that the Home Oice would show love and compassion and grant the family asylum.

“They are part of our family and we are part of theirs,” she added.

“It is unconscionable that they have been forced to live with this uncertainty for so many years.

“I hope that the Home Oice will re-examine the family’s case, stop treating them as numbers and acknowledge them as human beings because they have so much to give to Scotland.”

And Kim Long, a former Moderator of the National Youth Assembly of the Church of Scotland, now a Glasgow City Councillor, has been at the forefront of the ight to prevent a victim of modern slavery from being forcibly returned to his native Vietnam, where his life would be threatened by gangsters.

Duc Nguyen was moments away from being deported before his legal team submitted an application for a Judicial Review on June 13. On Facebook, Ms Long described the Home Oice’s immigration policies as ‘barbaric’: “They recognised Duc as a victim of traicking but were inches away from sending him to his death.”

The Rev Dr Richard Frazer, convener of the Church and Society Council of the Church of Scotland, said: “It is of deep concern that people who do not look or sound ‘British’ are now facing increased levels of discrimination in finding homes and employment.

“We believe it is inhumane to use the threat of destitution as a policy tool to encourage people to leave the country and we call for an immediate end to findeinite detention”.

He added that the issue was not about who is allowed in to the UK but about how “we relate to one another inside our borders”.

“Due process, justice and the proper implementation of immigration policies should not require us to live in suspicion of our neighbour,” he said.

“As Christians we believe that God calls us to ofer welcome to the stranger and care for the vulnerable, whoever they are.”