Brain drain - uni staff told to leave
TWO Durham University researchers are fighting to stay in the UK after being ordered to leave due to time spent working abroad on a humanitarian project.
Married couple Dr Ernesto Schwartz-Marin, Dr Arely Cruz-Santiago and their 11-year-old daughter Camila have been told to leave within 14 days by the Home Office.
The academics spent 270 days in Mexico in 2014 and 2015 on a project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council working with victims of violence.
Home Office guidelines indicate to be granted leave to remain in the UK, individuals must not spend more than 180 days out of the country in a 12-month period – with an exception for anyone assisting in a humanitarian crisis.
Drs Schwartz-Marin, 36, and Cruz-Santiago, 32, insist the time back in their home country was spent carrying out humanitarian work on behalf of the university.
But after appealing the initial decision, the family was told on Saturday the application had been refused and they have 14 days to leave the UK.
Dr Schwartz-Marin, a research fellow in the anthropology department, said: “We came here for the opportunities to research and work but suddenly because we are doing that, we are told to leave. Our girl has not known life anywhere else in terms of school and friends. Her home is kicking her out.
“She’s being brave but of course she feels worried, she’s asking how and why. She’s having to learn about these things in a very short period of time.”
The couple married in Mexico City before moving to the UK in 2007 when daughter Camila, a pupil at St Margaret’s Primary School in Durham, was just eight months old.
Dr Schwartz-Marin and his wife, a postgraduate researcher in the geography department, spent time back in their home country working with families to build a DNA database to help track down missing people suspected to have been victims of drug or gang violence.
But this absence counted against the family in their application for indefinite leave to remain in the UK, with the Home Office ruling their work did not qualify as assisting with a ‘humanitarian crisis.’
To fight their case, the researchers sent 1.5kg of evidence such as letters from NGOs on the value of their research, human rights reports and transcripts of parliamentary discussions on Mexico to support their case.
Dr Schwartz-Marin says the couple have been left in shock at the news, and believes it targets UK-based academics carrying out work abroad.
He added: “The shock is why are they expelling me for doing my job? I think the system is discriminating against us.
“It took us like a year to go through the whole process to get this grant, and it was really cuttingedge research at the time.
“We think this is fundamentally unfair – not just on us but for all academics. I’m wondering who lobbied for those Home Office rules and why are they designed this way.
“How can you not say the Mexican crisis is a humanitarian one? What is their criteria? There’s no definition of it. It does not make sense. We have to take this to court.”
The couple have enlisted the help of Jolyon Maugham, founder of the Good Law Project, and plan to submit a judicial review in the coming days to fight their case to remain in the UK.
He said: “There is a real battle for the soul of the nation going on at the moment. There are those who want us pretend there’s no outside world and become an inward-looking nation, and there are those who think we need to embrace it.
“When you exclude leading international academics from our country because they are doing important work outside the UK, we are becoming that small insular nation and I don’t want that.
“There’s no definition of humanitarian work so the Home Office take the view it is not, while Pope Francis speaking in Mexico in 2016 seems to think what’s happening there and in Central America is. I’m with the Pope.”
The letter sent to Dr Schwartz-Marin by the Home Office regarding the decision reads: “Consideration has been given to the points you have raised. However it is noted that your time spent outside of the UK, which exceeded 180 days within a 12-month period was for the basis of a humanitarian project, as stated within your administrative review. It is therefore not considered that your absent (sic) from the UK was on the basis of assisting with a national or international humanitarian crisis, such as the Ebola crisis in 2014.”
Professor Tim Clark, pro-vice-chancellor at Durham University, said: “We have very recently been made aware of the developments of this case. We are not able to comment on personal circumstances. However, we are committed to supporting our staff wherever possible and we are providing such support in this instance.”
A fundraising page on behalf of the couple’s legal fight has been launched and can be found at www.crowdjustice.com/case/if-you-build-yourlife-with-us, with more than £2,000 being raised in hours.
The Home Office declined to comment.