A London schoolgirl who was to be deported today was given a last-minute reprieve while on her way to the airport.
Yashika Bageerathi, 19, a pupil at Oasis Academy Hadley in Enfield, was to be deported from Gatwick to Mauritius after her asylum appeal was refused.
But the van carrying her to the airport was ordered to return to Yarl’s Wood immigration centre in Bedfordshire. Her case is now understood to be under review.
Her mother Sowbhagyawatee was told by the family’s solicitor that the Home Office had ordered that she be given a reprieve.
She told the Standard: “We are relieved but we still do not know what will happen in the future.”
Head of sixth form Zoe Thompson said Yashika phoned the school to break the news.
She said: “She screamed ‘my flight has been cancelled I only have one call’... She sounded happy.”
More than 100 students at the academy staged a protest this morning to keep Yashika in Britain.
She came to the UK with her mother, brother and sister in 2011 to escape a violent relative. Her case was dealt with separately as she was considered an adult.
The Home Office refused to comment.
