Brighton asylum-seeker girl facing deportation in GCSE year

The GCSE student could be visited by deportation officials at any time and her family have set up a text system for support

A girl who fled Sudan with her mother and sister after family members were arrested for joining in anti-government protests could be deported.

The family had their asylum application rejected and fear their lives will be in danger if sent back. Ann's father is missing and presumed dead.

Her Hove schoolmates held a vigil on Tuesday in their fight to keep the 16-year-old in the UK.

The Home Office has said it does not comment on individual cases.

A petition to Home Secretary Suella Braverman, which was started by Ann's fellow pupils and now has more than 3,600 signatures, said the Home Office was threatening to endanger the family's lives.

The teenager fled Sudan with her family in 2020 and has studied at Cardinal Newman Catholic School since then. Ann is now in the middle of her GCSE year.

In November, she was relocated from Brighton to detention accommodation in Tower Hamlets. Ann now commutes 90 minutes each way from London to Brighton to attend school and get back each day in time to sign in.

Her head teacher, Claire Jarman, said Ann was never late, attended every day and had not missed one exam.

'Dark place'

"All this with the constant threat of deportation," she said. "The reality of living with that as a 16-year-old is just huge."

The family have set up a text system so people will support them if they are visited by deportation officials, she said.

Ms Jarman said: "She's still 16, she's still a child... She talks about hiding her feelings but really having a dark place inside."

Pupils fighting to keep Ann in the UK held a vigil at the school

The school head said a duty solicitor worked on the asylum claim which was refused, but they hoped to get expert lawyers involved.

She said: "As a family they would rather be living safely in the Sudan with their extended family - that's their home that's where they grew up.

"At the moment, the accommodation they have in Tower Hamlets means that there's mould, they wear masks inside their accommodation every day.

"This is not a situation that they wanted to find themselves in and nor is it a situation that is easily resolved for them either way."

Labour MP for Hove, Peter Kyle said: "How dare the Home Office do this to a student in her final year, and about to sit GCSEs?

"Ann is now commuting to Cardinal Newman from Tower Hamlets, if that is not evidence of a broken asylum system, nothing is. Punishing a child when the family is in an asylum claim process is heart-breaking and cruel."

A Home Office spokesman said: "All asylum applications are considered on their individual merits in line with the asylum rules and the evidence presented.

"We do not routinely comment on individual cases."

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