Student protest as NUS Scotland officer faces deportation

Students are protesting outside the Scotland Office in Edinburgh today in support of University of Strathclyde student Lord Elias Mensah Apetsi, who is facing deportation.

Apetsi, who is studying for a Master’s degree in counselling, was detained by the Home Office this weekend and moved south for deportation to Ghana on Tuesday 22nd March. His two children are understood to have remained in Glasgow.

He has previously won an appeal against the Home Office, and NUS Scotland claim this decision to deport the student is down to human error.

This weekend Apetsi was elected asylum and refugee officer on NUS Scotland’s executive committee after being detained in a dawn raid on his home.

Vonnie Sandlan, newly re-elected president of NUS Scotland, described Apetsi as “a warm, caring and intelligent man”  and voiced concern for the wellbeing of his children.

“We’re deeply concerned for Lord’s wellbeing if he is forcibly deported. This case reveals the shocking and degrading inadequacies of our asylum and immigration system, and is sadly far from an isolated example.

“Lord is just one of countless people who are let down every year by a system that should to protect them, but instead condemns them to inhumane treatment and an uncertain future,” she said.

Alison Thewliss, MP for Glasgow Central, has written to the Scotland office for urgent answers on the case.

“It is wrong that his life can be turned upside down, that he can be separated from his children, and taken for removal. I urge the Home Office to reverse their decision and return Lord immediately to his family and friends in Glasgow,” she said.