Sisters face deportation due to 'admin error'

Two sisters who fled to the UK alleging they faced kidnap and death threats in their home country are facing deportation after claims of "administrative errors and delays" by the Home Office.

Ivania Rodriguez Sanchez, 24, and Karla Rodriguez Sanchez, 26, fled in 2019 with their parents, who claimed they had been through extortion and threats by gang members in El Salvador.

The pair were detained as "overstayers" on 20 March and face deportation later this month despite submitting a new asylum application.

The family have been supported by The Peoples Church in Nottingham, with pastor Rob Gale saying the pair "fear reprisals" if they are sent back.

Mr Gale said the "kind-hearted" family were "deeply upset" at the situation.

He added immigration officials needed to look at the case again and called it a "huge oversight".

The BBC understands the pair have submitted further appeals, which are being considered by the Home Office.

Their parents, father Hector and mother Raina's asylum applications are still ongoing.

The family, who helped run a mini-market in El Salvador, said they were approached by gang members demanding extortion money of $500 (£383) a month for "protection".

The sisters' father could not make the payments and the family began to receive death threats from the gang.

The family then moved cities, however they said the gang caught up with them.

But the situation took a turn when Ivania was kidnapped and this was the "straw that broke that camel's back" in order for them to leave, Mr Gale said.

"It was on one occasion [Ivania] was kidnapped and we still don't know to this day why she was taken back but they realised from that moment on they needed to move and get out of the country."

The family said they moved to Nottingham in June 2024 from Staffordshire due to problems with their accommodation.

Mr Gale said he was contacted by a partner church in the area where they were volunteering to see if he could assist.

"We met them when they came to our church and we sat and listened to their story," Mr Gale said.

"They packed a bag each and some possessions, cobbled some money together and arrived at Heathrow.

"They really feared for their lives.

"They've really got stuck into the life of the church... they are such a big-hearted, gentle, loving family who have got involved and given their all since they've been here in Nottingham."

The family have been helping run groups in the church, cleaning and preparing meals for attendees.

But Mr Gale added they became more involved with the asylum process when the family's bid - which had all of them on the father's application - was rejected in November last year.

After securing new legal representation, a fresh application for the four of them to stay was submitted in January.

Mr Gale said he was under the impression this was for the whole family but he now believes the Home Office only saw this as a report for the parents.

The two sisters, who report to a immigration centre in Loughborough, Leicestershire, every month, were then detained as "overstayers" on 20 March.

New individual claims for both Karla and Ivania were submitted the same day but Mr Gale said they "only appeared on the Home Office system on 7 April".

He added the deportation process had "already begun" despite the sisters' legal representatives chasing and submitting a number of pre-action protocol letters.

By Jeremy Ball, BBC East Midlands Today social affairs correspondent

The Sanchez family argue they have a legal right to settle here as refugees because of the threat they face in El Salvador.

But asylum cases can take several years to resolve as applicants fight to convince the Home Office they meet the criteria.

They need to show their fears are well-founded - which can be difficult to prove either way - and that they are facing "persecution" in their home country.

The legal definition of persecution includes being targeted because of political opinions or gender, but not a general fear of crime or conflict.

Mr Gale says he is now hoping the Home Office takes another look at their case, and that the sisters will not end up on deportation flights to El Salvador - scheduled for Tuesday and Friday.

"They are looking at them at the moment as criminals who have overstayed but this is far from the case," he said.

"My message to the Home Office is just to relook at this whole application on the basis of compassionate grounds - this family have done nothing wrong.

"They've not stepped out of the boundaries, they've not been an additional burden on the system. They have invested in our country's system by serving different churches and different projects.

"They've got qualifications from colleges and they are setting themselves up to stay here and I'm confident all four of them with the gifts that they have could sow themselves into our country's way of life."

Nottingham East MP Nadia Whittome said she had been pressing the Home Office to release the women and called it "deeply unfair and dangerous" for them to be sent back to El Salvador.

"Two young women are threatened with deportation to a country with one of the highest femicide rates in the world, where gang members have made threats to their lives," she said.

"They should not be in this situation. It is only because of administrative errors and delays, including on the part of the Home Office, that they are separated from their family, in detention and may now be removed from the country."

A Home Office spokesperson said: "It is our longstanding policy not to comment on individual cases."

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