A large-scale solidarity campaign succeeded in stopping the threat of deporting the 18 years old Ghanaian student Joel, from Hamburg. The hardship committee issued its decision to approve granting the hardship status to the student.
The chairperson of the committee, Eckhard Wessox, from the Social Democratic Party, said; “The hardship committee has approved Joel’s application. We call on the Senate to grant him the hardship status so that he obtains a residence permit.”
According to a spokesperson for the Immigration Authority, the residence permit will be issued very quickly after the decision of the hardship committee, expectedly in the coming days.
The classmates of the Ghanaian student at the Nelson Mandela District School in Wilhelm burg, have organized a signature collection campaign to prevent the deportation of Joel, who was aspiring to obtain a high school diploma.They held up a banner reading; “1,2,3,4 … Joel stays here”
Within hours after posting the petition online, it collected more than 104,000 signatures.
The decision of the hardship committee was unanimous, according to Wysocki.
The committee, which consists of four members, represents the Christian Democratic Union, the Greens and the Left factions, along with the Social Democrats.
A spokesperson for the hardship committee said; “The immigration authorities can only decide in accordance with the applicable residence law. Apart from the very careful technical and legal checks carried out by the immigration authorities, the hardship committee has made decisions here that take into account in particular the urgent personal reasons of the person concerned for permanent residence in Germany.”
Joel arrived in Hamburg from Ghana four years ago as an unaccompanied minor to live with his father and sister. Due to recent changes in immigration and legal laws, he should have been deported when he reached the age of maturity.
However, his class teacher, Elif Basbugha, filed an appeal stating that Joel learned German at an extraordinary speed, and as a teacher, she knows students born and raised in Germany and have not mastered the language as Joel did after just four years.
“at first, I was hoping to collect 1,000 votes which would have been great, but 100,000 votes is a different story,” Basbugha said.
Joel said that deportation would not only prevent him from graduating from school, but rather lead to him losing many friends, separation from his family as he would have to return to Ghana without his father and sister.
Joel said he was deeply touched by the outpouring of support. “I can’t even express my feelings. I didn’t expect this.”
