THE Home Office is determined to deport the two men freed after a successful protest in Glasgow last week.

Lakhvir Singh and Sumit Sehdev, who have lived in Scotland for more than 10 years, were held in a van by enforcement agents for more than eight hours during a stand-off between local residents and police on Kenmure Street.

Neighbours mobilised when the Home Office attempted to lock up the men, from India, in a dawn raid.

Glasgow Times:

Despite widespread condemnation of the enforcement action, including from the First Minister, UK immigration officials have vowed to press ahead with the deportations.

Singh, a mechanic, and Sehdev, a chef, are suspected of overstaying their visas after they were denied leave to remain.

“They will still be detained and deported at a later date,” a Home Office source told the Times. “We will continue to tackle illegal immigration and the harm it causes.”

However, the UK Government is likely to face a robust legal challenge. Robina Qureshi, director of charity Positive Action in Housing, said: “We are exploring what legal actions there are to take action against the Home Office.

“It’s wrong to call them illegal — the Home Office is casting aspersions on men from the Indian community. They have been living and working peacefully in the community for years and it’s just a matter of not having the right paperwork. They are not criminals, they are not costing anybody anything. Detaining them will only rack up a bill for the taxpayer.”

Glasgow Times: One of two men are released from the back of an Immigration Enforcement van accompanied by Mohammad Asif, director of the Afghan Human Rights Foundation, in Kenmure Street, Glasgow which is surrounded by protesters. Picture date: Thursday May 13, 2021.

Singh came to Scotland in 2008 and his visa expired in 2016. He said applications to renew his visa were rejected and the pandemic had hindered his attempts to appeal against the decision.

He told the Daily Record: “They said I had overstayed my time here and my visa had expired but I was letting them know that I did not want to go.

“I’m a part of the society. I have given so much to the community as well, and I do not want to go.”

As revealed by The Sunday National, a third Indian man was also the target of a dawn raid on the same day last week.

The man, who has not been named, was picked up at Glasgow City Council's Rodney Street Assessment Centre, which provides emergency accommodation centre for homeless men.

He has no criminal history in the UK, was in the process of submitting a fresh asylum claim and says he ran from political persecution in India.

The man, who has been in the UK for 16 years, said: “I have cooperated with the Home Office and I have been working closely with my solicitor to submit a fresh claim. I have never missed a reporting date,” he said.

“I am very upset and traumatised by the events and I am afraid being held in a detention centre during a national pandemic.”

The raids came just days after the UK announced a new deal with India. For accepting 3000 Indian students aged 18-30 to work and live here for up to two years, and vice-versa, the UK will be “speeding up returns of visa overstayers”.

The National also revealed that the Home Office had unsuccessfully lobbied Sikhs in Scotland to support the raids. The community advocacy group rejected the advance and criticised the UK Government’s “heavy-handed and targeted approach”.

The Home Office commented: “The UK Government is tackling illegal immigration and the harm it causes, often to the most vulnerable people, by removing those with no right to be in the UK.

Glasgow Times:

“The operation in Glasgow was conducted in relation to suspected immigration offences, and the two Indian nationals complied with officers.

“The UK Government continues to tackle illegal migration in all its forms and our new plan for immigration will speed up the removal of those who have entered the UK illegally.”