Jesus wept

I can barely form sentences after reading about this case:

"A SCOTTISH schoolgirl was behind bars at Yarls Wood detention centre in England last night after a last-minute reprieve from deportation. Along with her mother, the ten-year-old was removed from a Kenyan Airways flight heading for Malawi as it sat on the runway at Heathrow airport in London.

Precious Mhango and her mother Florence, 32, from Glasgow, who have lived in the UK for almost seven years, were taken from Dungavel detention centre in Lanarkshire and sent to Yarls Wood Immigration Centre in Bedfordshire at the weekend under a Home Office deportation order."

Here's an account of her experience:

"Thursday 30 July: We went to sign and we never came back home. After signing we were told to wait because someone wanted to speak to us. My heart started racing.

We were taken to a room, where I saw 5 or 6 giant men officers in blue jackets, black trousers and white shirts. They were so scary and they were staring at us. It was like we were in the court and had been found guilty of killing someone and now we were being handed over to prison guards.

We were locked into the room, my whole body was numb. A woman came in reading a pile of papers.

"Your case has been dismissed, today you're being detained," she said.

Blah blah blah, as she continued talking, I couldn't even listen to her. I started screaming "please, I don't want to go".

My mum too was screaming. The woman carried on reading, I kept screaming. She offered me some tissues and a drink. I said "no thanks".

The others were just watching us.

Shortly we were locked in the van going to Dungavel detention centre.

I was very upset. I couldn't stop thinking about my best friend ever, Maria.

I started thinking about school. I was so excited to go back and start Primary 6 as the summer holiday was about to finish.

After about one hour and a half, we were in Dungavel. It's a horrible place. No friends, no good fun and no smiles from my mum."

The Scotsman reports that a letter from Mr Woolas stated that he "saw no compelling reason to help the family". I don't know what to say to that - just refer you to the title of the post. There's a Facebook campaign you can join, should you feel so inclined.

H/T: The blogger formerly known as Will.