Biloela’s Beloved Tamil Asylum Seeker Family Just Won An Injunction Against Deportation, For Now
It doesn't cover the whole family, though, and the town is worried they'll be split up.
Remember that family of Tamil asylum seekers the government has been desperately trying to deport from their home in the Queensland town of Biloela? Well, they just won another shot at staying — yesterday afternoon, mother Priya and one of the family’s two children were granted an injunction against deportation until they’ve had a chance to appeal what the government’s doing.
The injunction unfortunately doesn’t cover Priya’s husband Nadesalingam and their other child, but supporters are hoping the government won’t split the family. Whether the government’s actually kind enough to do that, who knows.
As Biloela resident Angela Fredericks told Junkee this morning, “it’s been a real mixed reaction in the community — massive relief that the injunction was granted, but still a lot of fear that Nades and one of the girls could be deported at any stage.”
“Even though the minister’s lawyers have indicated that they don’t like to separate families, I guess our trust of the system — given the 5am raid, and the family being served the deportation documents at 5pm on Friday — well, we don’t have a lot of trust in the government right now.”
“Our other concern is it could be another two to four months until the appeal in court, and that’s another few months in detention for them.”
Still, the injunction is a relief for the family, who had previously been told they could be deported as early as today, despite Priya still having legal options to appeal her deportation. The family have been in a detention centre in Melbourne since March, when the Border Force entered their home in a dawn raid over a visa expired by a single day.
The town of Biloela has rallied around them since that moment, attending protests, writing to Peter Dutton, and hijacking an episode of Q&A to bring attention to the injustice. A petition to have the family returned home to Biloela has amassed over 100,000 signatures, and a new petition calling on airlines to refuse to assist in deporting them has reached almost 7000 signatures in just two days.
As Biloela resident Marie said on Q&A back in May, “our town loved this little family, and we want them, we want them to come home”. If you’d like to support Biloela in getting Priya, Nades and the girls home, there’s a list of things you can do to help here. Angela especially encouraged people to sign the new petition to the airlines, and keep pressure on local and federal MPs.
Biloela needs your help pic.twitter.com/MnDhGx1RqF
— Judy (@walbran42) June 23, 2018
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Feature image via the Home To Bilo campaign