Autistic boy's family faces deportation 'at any time'
Tuesday August 07 2007
THE family of an autistic Nigerian boy who is facing deportation, have been told to bring their luggage when signing on with immigration officials each week as they could be deported at any time.
Olivia Agbonlahor and her twins, Great and Melissa, are due to move to Dublin from Kerry today and will sign on at the Garda National Immigration Bureau this afternoon.
They will sign on once a week from now on, with a four-week reprieve to allow the family to get inoculated before deportation to Nigeria ending next week.
Great (6) has been diagnosed with autism and his mother has claimed his life will be at risk in Nigeria as local people may believe he is possessed.
Racism
"Great's family have to move up from Killarney," Rosanna Flynn of Residents Against Racism said yesterday.
"The authorities had wanted them to move up earlier but eventually they allowed Great to finish his classes for the summer and that happened last Friday," said Ms Flynn.
The young boy had been receiving one-to-one treatment for his autism.
"We think it's terrible - it's moving the children away from all their friends," Ms Flynn said.
"On top of that, something has been said that we have never heard in any case before - she won't be deported tomorrow, but every week from then on she has to sign on and they will have to report each week with all their luggage packed until there is a mass deportation and they go."
'His mother has claimed his life will be at risk in Nigeria as local people may believe he is
possessed'
Residents Against Racism says it is aware of 12 people in Clover Hill Prison awaiting deportation and at least another two women in Mountjoy Prison in the same situation, but it cannot estimate when a deportation might occur.
Great was born in Italy and has lived in Ireland with his sister and mother for four years.
They fled Italy because of alleged death threats issued against the children's father, Martins Agbonlahor, who is an author.
It is claimed he spoke out against elements within the Nigerian expatriate community who, he alleged, were drug trafficking.
Ms Agbonlahor and her twin children lived at a centre for asylum seekers in Clonakilty, Cork, for a number of years before recently moving to Killarney. They will live in Finglas from today.
Exhausted
Having exhausted every available legal avenue, the family's solicitor Kevin Brophy wrote to Justice Minister Brian Lenihan last month and secured a four-week stay in order for the family to get inoculated.
Campaigners believe that Great will face a life without treatment for his condition if he is deported and say his fate lies in Mr Lenihan's hands, as he has the power to grant a right to stay in Ireland on compassionate grounds.
"We are still hoping that we might have some good news tomorrow, that he might have made an exception in their case," Ms Flynn said.
However, the previous justice minister, Michael McDowell, has said there are no grounds for allowing him to stay and Mr Lenihan has said that there is no basis for changing that finding.
- Jason O'Brien
