A woman who has been married to a British man for 27 years has been deported to Singapore.<\/p>\n
Irene Clennell was being held in a Scottish detention centre, but has now told the BBC she has been sent back to her country of origin without warning.<\/p>\n
Mrs Clennell had been living near Durham with her husband before being detained, and has two British sons, as well as a granddaughter, in the UK.<\/p>\n
The Home Office said it did not comment on individual cases.<\/p>\n
Mrs Clennell told the BBC she was put in a van and taken to the airport from the Dungavel Detention Centre in South Lanarkshire on Saturday.<\/p>\n
She had been held at the facility since the start of February.<\/p>\n
She told the BBC she was unable to contact her lawyer and did not have the chance to get any clothes from her home.<\/p>\n
Mrs Clennell, who had been living in Chester-le-Street, was given indefinite leave to remain in the UK after her marriage.<\/p>\n
But periods spent back in Singapore caring for her elderly parents appear to have invalidated her residential status.<\/p>\n
She says she has made repeated attempts – both in Singapore and in the UK – to re-apply for permission to live with her husband.<\/p>\n
Mrs Clennell says her husband is in poor health and she has become his principal carer.<\/p>\n
A Home Office spokesman said: “All applications for leave to remain in the UK are considered on their individual merits and in line with the immigration rules.<\/p>\n
“We expect those with no legal right to remain in the country to leave.”<\/p>\n
The charity Migrant Voice says a campaign is starting to bring her back to Britain.<\/p>\n
Director Nazek Ramadan said her case was “yet another example of how arbitrary policies tear apart families and ruin lives”.<\/p>\n
Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"