It’s not often someone gets the First Minister, Alex Salmond intervening directly in their case on their behalf, but he has certainly become interested in the case of an Indian family who face being deported because their bank balance fell below a statutory minimum.
Some suggest the First Minister’s only motivation for intervening in the case is to secure the minority vote .. and they might have a point, because Mr Salmond hasn’t been doing too much for anyone writing into him recently, some even on horrific cases of abuse.
Some also wonder why the First Minister hasn’t intervened with his Justice Secretary’s gleeful desire to pack a Scots family with their pregnant mum off to jail cells abroad as we reported earlier : here (I suppose the question that everyone must ask themselves now might be : Would Alex do it for me ? - Ed)
The Scotsman reports :
Salmond calls on Smith to help family's deportation fight
Published Date: 20 April 2009
By Katrine Bussey
FIRST Minister Alex Salmond yesterday urged the Home Secretary to intervene in the case of an Indian family who face being deported from Scotland.
Mr Salmond wrote to Jacqui Smith after Swarthick Salins's application to stay in Britain was rejected.
The First Minister said that decision seemed to be "overly harsh" and he called on Ms Smith to "share the detail" of the reasons for it.
Mr Salins, 37, has lived in Scotland for nine years and studied for a PhD at St Andrews University. The married father of three, whose children were all born in Britain, hoped to get work with an aid agency and sought approval to stay in the UK.
But a judge at an asylum and immigration tribunal in Glasgow refused his application because of a rule breach.
Mr Salins's bank balance fell to £721.23 last September and Home Office rules state that people who appeal to stay in the UK must have at least £800 in savings for three months before they apply.
Mr Salmond told Ms Smith he hoped she would be "able to intervene in this case to rectify what appears to have been an overly harsh interpretation of the legislation".
In his letter the First Minister told the Home Secretary: "I would greatly appreciate you reviewing the case and sharing the detail and the reasoning behind the decision with me."
Mr Salins is planning to lodge an appeal against the decision at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.
1 comment:
From the Scotsman forum :
£5,625,236 (sic) of taxpayers’ money given to The Equality Unit’s Race, Religion and Refugee Integration funding stream, designed to improve the lives of minority ethnic and faith communities in Scotland, including refugees, asylum seekers, migrant workers and Gypsies/Travellers.
*Citizens of Member States of the European Union - include all citizens of the following states:-
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden. These citizens will be registered as local government electors and (unless they are all qualifying commonwealth citizens such as citizens of Cyprus, Malta, or the Irish Republic, who can vote in all elections) are also ENTITLED TO VOTE in Scottish Parliament elections.
_______________
So if the family had been white and were facing deportation would Mr Salmond have intervened ?
I think not.
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