A top student at Bangor University and her mother will not be deported to Sri Lanka prior to her graduation, which is just months away, following pressure from her MP, her family and friends, and the university itself.
Last night 20-year-old Shiromini Satkunarajah's MP, Hywel Williams, urged the Home Office to change its decision, describing it as a "scandalous case".
He said: "My constituent is going to be expelled from the UK tomorrow. ... She'll be sent to Sri Lanka, from where she and her family fled here from the war, when she was just 12 years old at the time."
Satkunarajah and her mother were arrested in February and transferred to Yarl's Wood immigration centre.
Just raised Point of Order urging Home Office to look urgently at case of my constituent @BangorUni student… https://t.co/4SO7W7wKdi
Williams later received an assurance from immigration minister Robert Goodwill that the deportation order would be lifted.
This decision means Satkunarajah will be able to graduate in electronic engineering with a first. Williams said: "There's a worldwide shortage of graduates in her subject."
A petition was posted on Friday to raise awareness of Satkunarajah's situation. The petition has now received over 130,000 signatures.
Helen Marchant, a student who is good friends with Satkunarajah, told BuzzFeed News she was delighted with the reversal from the Home Office: "I pray for a safe return for Mini and her mother back to their home in Wales," she said.
"I'm completely overwhelmed with the support. The student movement is incredible and we've done what some said was impossible."
NUS Wales deputy president Carmen Smith released a statement regarding Satkunarajah's situation yesterday evening, saying: "I am so overjoyed for Shiromini and her mother that the Home Office has finally come to its senses and withdrawn the deportation order."
She added: “I am extremely grateful to all those who’ve stood alongside us, campaigning for the release of Shiromini and her mother: their local Member of Parliament, Hywel Williams, the Shadow Secretary of State for Wales Christina Rees, Change.org, the media, Students’ Unions across Wales, and many thousands more across the UK. This shows what good we can achieve when we work together."
A Bangor University spokesperson told BuzzFeed News: “Bangor University has welcomed the news of Shiromini Satkunarajah’s release last night. We would particularly like to thank Hywel Williams MP who has worked tirelessly to secure her release as well as the Students’ Union at Bangor University and NUS Wales and students, staff, local media and many others around the world who lent their support.
“We will continue to support Shiromini on her return to the University, and very much hope that she will be allowed to remain to complete her degree.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We do not routinely comment on individual cases.”