Migrant group slam British govt for deporting grandmother

LONDON: Britain has hit a "new low" by deporting a grandmother from north-eastern England to Singapore, a migrants' rights group said on Monday.
Irene Clennell, 52, was flown to Singapore after being held at a British detention centre for several weeks, despite having a husband, two adult sons and a granddaughter in Britain.
Irene has been married to her British husband for 27 years but fell foul of the country's tougher residency rules after spending long periods in Singapore caring for her elderly parents.
Immigration officials flew her out of Britain on Sunday without allowing her a final chance to speak to her family or solicitor, her husband told British media.
"Covertly forcing a grandmother – who has lived, worked and raised a family here over decades – out of the country goes against any British sense of decency and should never have happened," said Nazek Ramadan, director of London-based Migrant Voice.
"This case marks a new low for our out-of-touch system," she said in a statement.
Secret deportation flights are "a common feature of today's immigration system, as is scheduling flights on Sundays or other times when legal support is sparse", she said.
"This is the human cost of a political push for arbitrary migration targets which don't take real life into account."
Britain toughened its immigration rules in 2012 under former home secretary Theresa May, who is now prime minister, amid a drive to curb net migration and reduce benefits payments to migrants.
Irene's husband John Clennell, 50, said he last saw her on Friday at the detention centre "and then on Sunday she called to say they had taken her to the airport".
The deportation process "gave us little chance to speak to anyone to get it stopped", he told the Northern Echo.
"She is back in Singapore. I have only spoken to her by text.
"She is devastated."
He said the government's treatment of his wife was "a disgrace" and criticised her abrupt deportation on a Sunday.
"I think they have done it then so there was no help for her to be able to stop it," he said.
"They have sent her back with nothing. All she has is the clothes on her back."
A "Bring Irene Home" crowdfunding effort has passed its goal of raising £20,000 (RM110,000) to fund the Clennells' legal costs.
Writing on the crowdfunding page that she started, Angela Clennell said she wants her sister-in-law to be able to return to Britain to take care of her ailing husband as his sole caregiver.
"Irene has nowhere to go in Singapore. Both her parents have passed away: her whole life is here in Britain," she said. "It would be heartbreaking for all of us to see her go."
A Home Office spokesperson said in a statement that applications to remain in Britain "are considered on their individual merits and in line with the immigration rules".
"We expect those with no legal right to remain in the country to leave," the spokesperson added. — dpa