AN Argentine woman being held in the immigration detention centre at Dungavel will not be forcibly removed for now, after an SNP MP raised her case with the Home Office.
Stuart McDonald, the party’s spokesperson on Immigration, Asylum and Border Control, spoke to officials yesterday about Cyntia Lencinas, who has been locked up for a week after being detained at Glasgow Airport and labelled a “flight risk”.
His intervention puts a hold on any enforcement action.
Lencinas, 33, and her 44-year-old husband, Charly Garcia, intended to spend only a short time in Scotland to see his family, before heading to Australia.
However, her Australian visa was cancelled late on Thursday on the grounds that officials did not believe she would be on a “genuine temporary visit”.
A spokesperson for Australia’s Department of Home Affairs told The National: “The department does not comment on individual cases.
“There are provisions in the Migration Act 1958 (the Act) which allow for visa cancellation on a number of grounds including non-compliance with visa conditions, or where the presence of the visa holder in Australia is or maybe a risk to the health, safety or good order of the Australia community.”
They did not respond when asked if the couple’s case had been discussed between their department and the UK Home Office.
McDonald said: “I’m totally perplexed and horrified at how this lady has been treated given that the clear evidence points to the fact this is a short stopover before the couple head for Australia.
“There is absolutely nothing to suggest that she is a flight risk.”
“The Home Office have put a hold on any further action until they get back to me with a definitive decision.”
Lawyer Usman Aslam, who is handling Lencinas’s case, added: “McGlashan McKay have been working with Stuart McDonald to insist that the Home Office make an immediate decision about our outstanding immigration bail application.
“They’ve said they have the right to take up 10 days to make such a decision, however we are of the view … there is no reason for them not to release Cyntia today.”
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