Teachers, students and trade unionists have got together to launch a declaration against the deportation of young people and children from Britain, following the success of several spontaneous student protests. In October, when 15-year-old Lorin Sulaiman, a Kurdish asylum seeker, was seized by immigration officials with her mother and sister, classmates from Mayfield school in Portsmouth ran a high-profile media campaign. When the Home Office temporarily stayed the deportation, they organised a march in January. The family was granted two-year visas a week later. The day after Afghan asylum seeker Amin Buratee was taken to the Dover Removal Centre, the entire sixth form of his school marched there for a vigil. Their persistent campaign led to Buratee getting permission to stay until he finishes his A levels. And earlier this year, a petition campaign by students at Drumchapel High succeeded in stopping the deportation of the Roma Murselaj family. The declaration aims to highlight the damage deportation of students has on entire communities. To sign, visit <http://www.schoolsagainstdeportations.org>.
From Green Left Weekly, April 27, 2005.
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