Aspiring student nurse is ‘a credit to Scotland’
A Paisley student who faces deportation from the UK has received the backing of Scotland’s First Minister.
Denzel Darku, 23, arrived in the country from Ghana as a 14-year-old and went to Paisley Grammar, before going on to serve at the Scottish Youth Parliament and carried the Queen’s Baton ahead of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow .
It was revealed that Home Office officials rejected the student nurse’s appeals to stay in the country after he was told he was to be deported on a technicality.
Paisley-based Labour MSP Neil Bibby raised the issue at First Minister’s Questions yesterday and received the backing of Nicola Sturgeon.
He said:“This is a young man who has built his life in Paisley, once a member of the Scottish Youth Parliament, a Commonwealth Games baton bearer and a student nurse who wants to work in our NHS.
“But who is also the victim of bogus migration targets and the hostile environment policy of the Home Office.
“He is someone who has contributed a huge amount to this country and who wants to stay in Scotland and the UK so he can contribute even more.”
Mr Bibby added:“Does the First Minister agree with me there can be no justification for driving a young man like Denzel away from the place he calls home?”
Home Office bosses, who have been accused of creating a“hostile environment”for immigrants decided Denzel didn’t fit the criteria to stay in the country.
Ms Sturgeon said:“I’ve met Denzel in the past. He is a fine young man. He is an absolute credit to Scotland and it is outrageous, scandalous, a disgrace that he is threatened with deportation.
“We should be trying to attract more young people of his calibre to Scotland, not chasing them away.”
She added:“The immigration policies of the Tories, I think, are disgraceful.
“I will do everything I can to make the case for Denzel Darku, to argue that case, as I’m sure Neil Bibby as the MSP who has taken up the case will do.
“But I think what we need is more than action in one case. What we need is a change to immigration policy, a more humane policy and one that recognises the needs of our country.”
Denzel represented Renfrewshire North and West as a member of the Scottish Youth Parliament and was involved with Renfrewshire Youth Voice.