Support Kunle! Allow Him to Stay! Protest At GNIB in Dublin!

national | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis

Tuesday March 28, 2006 14:19

by Friends of Kunle - The Community, Just Like Any Other

End Racist Deportations That Break Up Families

TODAY is the day that Nigerian Asylum Seeker Olunkunle “Kunle” Elukanlo has been ordered to report to the Garda National Immigration Bureau by Justice Minister Michael McDowell so that the deportation to Nigeria proceedings against him can be expedited.

Let’s see a show of support for Kunle outside the GNIB today and more until he is allowed to stay in Ireland!

Kunle Became a Dad Last Week

KUNLE just became dad to an Irish baby (see picture). He must be allowed stay on humanitatian grounds. McDowell knew that Kunle was to be a dad when he issued the deportation order a few weeks ago. Joe Higgins TD has also called for Kunle to be allowed stay. Higgins said the traffic infractions were not serious and that “if he is now the father of an Irish baby, that strengthens the case for him being allowed to stay.” Many others agree, including members of the community in Dublin where Kunle now lives and works, and his college mates. Even the Irish right-wing press like Sunday World is calling for McDowell to allow him to stay (see picture).

KUNLE is currently talking with lawyers and Residents Against Racism, and is challenging by judicial review the deportation order that McDowell issued. The Irish Refugee Council in yesterday’s Irish Times condemned the proceedings as being racially biased against Nigerians who are deported in disproportionate numbers as a result of a change in attitude against Nigerians by the authorities about 18 months ago, so it’s an uphill battle. Kunle needs public support.

KUNLEhas already been deported once, and was thrown onto the streets of Lagos in his school uniform last year. A public outcry and community agitation (see picture) led to McDowell having to rescind the deportation order and allow Kunle back to Ireland, which is now his real home, so that he could complete his second level education and go onto college.

MCDOWELL is now out for revenge by deporting Kunle for a second time on the pretext that some minor traffic infractions by Kunle show that he is not prepared to respect the laws of the state. In fact, driving regulations are not available in their native languages and high cost of driving lessons and insurance prohibits driving instruction and proper documentation for many immigrants, who have to deal with this institutional racist discrimination while trying to drive miles to work and for family reasons. The real offence Kunle has committed of course, is to be black, and to want a better life in Ireland, away from oppressive, dangerous, Nigeria.

Really, what is at heart here is whether Irish people are prepared to come out and protest against a very wrong decision to break on an Irish family on racist grounds and to demand that the Minister end this institutional racism and allow Kunle to stay in Ireland and proceed to become an Irish citizen like the rest of us.