TEARS OF JOY AS DEPORT-THREAT TEEN REUNITED WITH FAMILY
THIS is the emotional moment when a Syrian man threatened with deportation was reunited with his family after being detained for days.
Mohammed Mirzo, 20, was days away from being sent to Bulgaria despite his entire family living in Cardiff.
Mr Mirzo, who first arrived in Britain in the back of a lorry, was told by the Home Office he must return to Bulgaria – where he first arrived in the EU – threatening to tear the family apart.
After the case was raised by several MPs and more than 8,000 people signed a petition in support, Mr Mirzo was released from the Campsfield Immigration Removal Centre in Oxfordshire yesterday.
He said: “I’m much better now, I’m happy to be back with my family.
“Finally I am free from that place. It was very difficult for me there.
“I’d thank every one of them who signed the petition for me, to have that many people supporting me.”
A keen footballer, Mr Mirzo was separated from the rest of his family when he was aged 16 and ended up in Bulgaria after they fled from Aleppo.
After around five months in Bulgaria, Mohammed travelled to Germany, where his family say he was attacked by a neo-Nazi gang and suffered a broken shoulder, which has still not fully healed.
When Mr Mirzo made it to Cardiff he applied for refugee status, but during one Home Office meeting he was detained and held at Parc Prison for two days before being sent to the immigration centre.
His mother, Hasna Bakkar, 38, said: “I’m over the moon, I can’t explain how happy I am.
“A piece of my heart that was stolen is back. I have felt quite depressed this week, it was like my life was completely turned upside down.”
His family say he was badly mistreated in Bulgaria, a country that has been strongly criticised for its treatment of refugees and migrants.
Speaking about Mohammed’s return, brother Salah, 21, said: “I’m feeling great. Finally we have an end to this part of the story, I just hope that he can still stay with us.”
Mr Mirzo’s father, Ali, arrived in Cardiff in 2015 and was granted refugee status in 2016.
He gradually brought the rest of his family, including his two daughters, to Cardiff, and now has a baby, Evan, aged eight months.
Settling in Lakeside, Ali, 48, set up the Royal Coast Cafe in the city centre and volunteers as an interpreter for child refugees.
Ali, a teacher, said: “His mum had not eaten for the last three days.
“I feel very, very happy. I last saw him on Sunday and he was very, very upset and he looked very weak because he was not eating well or sleeping well.
“When he said he had been given a ticket I worried it was for Bulgaria! But they said he could come home.”
Despite being reunited with his family, Mr Mirzo could still be deported.
Cardiff Central MP Jo Stevens, who supported his case, said: “Obviously I’m really, really delighted that he’s been released and at home with his family.
“The worry is that this is not finished yet.”