1,000 Leicester residents ask Home Secretary to let Evenia stay

Evenia Mawongera has to report again at Loughborough Immigration Reporting Centre today (Friday, 26 July 2013) at 11am.  As happened last week, a number of people from the wider Leicester community, Evenia's family and friends, and members of the Zimbabwe Association Choir, of which she is a part, will accompany her to Loughborough and perform for the people of Loughborough.

They will also ask people in Loughborough to sign the petition asking Home Secretary Theresa May and Immigration Minister Mark Harper to exercise their discretionary powers and let Evenia stay in Leicester where she belongs.

In addition to that, Evenia's friends will ask people in Loughborough to sign the petition asking Justice Secretary Chris Grayling to make sure that legal aid remains available to people on low or no income.

After this performance, Evenia's friends will present, to the Loughborough Immigration Reporting Centre's manager, a petition with 289 signatures on it in which the people of Leicester ask the Home Secretary and the Immigration Minister to exercise their discretionary powers and allow Evenia to stay in Leicester with her friends, her children and her grandchildren.

This week's petition is significant because, taken together with the petition that was submitted last week when Evenia was released from detention, it means that close to 1,000 Leicester residents are now asking the Home Secretary and the Immigration Minister to let Evenia stay as are the majority of the councillors and all the Members of  Parliament who serve the city.

Similarly, the online version of the petition also has close to 1,000 people from all over the country who are making similar calls.  
 
This week, the cover letter accompanying the petition from the people of Leicester which is going to hand to the manager at Loughborough Immigration Reporting Center (for her to pass on to the Home Secretary and the Immigration Minister) comes from Jan Wild-Grant who writes:

"I am writing to you to alert you to the fact that we, the citizens of Leicester, have been continuing to collect signatures to support our wish that Evenia Mawongera be allowed to remain in Leicester in safety with her children and grandchildren who are British citizens.

"Last week we handed in a 690-signature-strong petition. This week we hand in one with 289 signatures. These two figures mean that, so far, 979 people from Leicester, including the majority of the councillors who serve the city, have signed the petition asking Home Secretary Theresa May and Immigration Minister Mark Harper to exercise their discretionary powers and let Evenia stay in Leicester with her children and grandchildren.

"A further 926 people from all over the country have signed the online version of the petition online <http://chn.ge/1bmBqiB>.

"Taking the Town Hall Square signatures and the online signatures together means that, so far, 1,905 people are all asking the Home Secretary and the Immigration Minister to let Evenia stay in Leicester.

"All three MPs who represent Leicester in Parliament have made representations to the Immigration Minister on Evenia's behalf.

"We would also like to draw your, the Home Secretary's and the Immigration Minister's attention to the transcript of the interview Keith Vaz (Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee) gave BBC Radio Leicester and which was broadcast on 22 July 2013.

"Further, we are concerned about the stress that reporting weekly to the Loughborough Immigration Reporting Centre is causing to Evenia, who is 55 and has recently had to endure 8 days in Yarl's Wood Detention Centre. Reporting weekly makes her feel that she is likely to be detained again at any time. I feel this is a denial of human rights. Many asylum seekers have already experienced trauma before they come here to seek sanctuary, without us needing to add to this.

"In addition, the local media including the Leicester Mercury, BBC East Midlands Today, Central News and BBC Radio Leicester have all been very supportive of this campaign.

"Evenia has been nominated as a 'Good Neighbour of the Year' in annual Leicester Mercury and East Midlands Housing Association award, and is a finalist for this, and if she is deported on August 14th as she was told on release from Yarl's Wood Immigration Detention Centre, this will be 8 days before the results are announced. How ironic that the Home Office should want to deport a 'Good Neighbour'."