Yashika Bageerathi, the student who was (quite embarrassingly) deported from Britain earlier this week, has spoken out about her fear now she's landed in Mauritius.
‘I am just all alone here, everyone is in England,’ she’s said. ‘I don’t know what to do.’
Confirming that four security guards flew with her on the Mauritian Airways flight, Yashika added she was made to feel like a criminal: ‘I just wanted to do everything lawfully and I was just doing everything I was being asked... But even walking in the airport people were looking at me like I was a criminal.’
Bageerathi was seeking asylum in Britain with her mother and sister because of a violent family member in Mauritius. However, in March, Yashika was detained at Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre (yes, it’s actually called that) before being put on a plane back to her home country on Wednesday.
Her teachers and family had been hoping for a last-minute reprieve as the 19-year-old was about to take her A-levels – under UK law children still in school can delay deportation if they have exams to take. But sadly, this attempt failed on Yashika’s behalf because at 19, she's not considered a child.
Now in Mauritus, Yashika is understandably nervous about what options are open to her. When asked by ITV News what she’ll be doing next, she said: ‘I don’t know, I'm still trying to make arrangements.’ Then in a message directly to politicians – including immigration minister James Brokenshire, who confirmed that Yashika would be sent back – she said: ‘I really want to complete my education and it’s just so hard being here. I want to be there with my friends, in school with my teachers.’
Lynne Dawes, Yashika Bageerathi headteacher at Oasis Academy Hadley in Enfield, north London, up until her detention, said her former student was ‘feeling the lowest I have heard her to be for quite a while. She was also very subdued.’ One faint hope, though – Lynne is trying to make it possible for Yashika to sit her A-levels in Mauritius. (Who’d have thought exams would be seen as a good thing?)
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Picture: PA
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.