The Children's Commissioner for Scotland yesterday called for the Home Office to end immediately the detention of asylum seeker families settled in the country, describing the practice as "inhumane".

Kathleen Marshall told the Herald she believed the removal of thousands of so-called legacy families, including children who have lived in the country for more than three years, should be stopped and the Home Office should complete a review of the system urgently.

She gave her damning indictment of detention and dawn raids after speaking to "traumatised" children from asylum-seeking families now being educated in schools in Glasgow.

As part of her fact-finding mission, Ms Marshall has become involved in the case of Saima Asim, a 35-year-old Pakistani mother-of-two who was yesterday feared to be under threat of detention with her children after having lived in Glasgow for six years.

Ms Asim, who left Pakistan with her sons Ali, now 11, and seven-year-old Bilal, to seek refuge from her violent husband and in-laws, was expected to be forcibly removed after being asked to meet immigration officials in Glasgow with her sons. They have been given a two-week reprieve. The Asims are among the 4000 people in more than 1000 legacy asylum families in Scotland.

Ms Marshall described a "very emotive meeting" with children of asylum-seeker families at St Brendan's Primary School in Yoker, where Mrs Asim's children are pupils, and at Drumchapel High.

"I am not a politician," she said. "I am only interested in the rights and welfare of young people. All these stories just do not sound like Scotland. It sounds like some strange thing from some foreign country.

"It is really concerning when you hear children with Scottish accents saying if they go back to the country they came from, their father or mother will be killed.

"It seems, on the one hand, we constantly talk about the need to teach children citizenship but when you hear primary schoolchildren through tearful eyes saying, I hate the government', what messages are they getting of what we value in this country?

"One boy at primary school told us his father gave him some money and told him if immigration come, just run and go up to any group of people and pretend you are with them. Now that is quite scary, telling a child to do that.

"You hear about sleeping on friends' floors, youngsters jumping off balconies and running away. She said the system of dealing with applications from asylum seekers for refugee status must be speeded up and meantime those with children who have settled in Scotland must be allowed to stay: "Some of these families have been here for so long, they have roots in the community and there are many people, including me, who feel it is basically inhumane to send them back."

Yesterday, the Home Office announced a new amendment to the UK Borders Bill will, for the first time, place a legal obligation on the Border and Immigration Agency to keep children safe from harm.

The agency will have a duty to have regard to a statutory code of practice when dealing with children as it carries out its immigration functions.

But while there is a review under way of family removals, the Home Office said it would not address the issue of an amnesty for legacy cases.

A Home Office spokesman said: "Families with children are detained only when absolutely necessary and for as short a period of time as possible. We feel it is in the best interests of the children to keep them with their parents."

My sons fear being sent to a country they don't know'


Saima Asim quit Pakistan for Glasgow to seek asylum after leaving her violent husband and in-laws.

Six years on, the 35-year-old from Yoker fears being sent back to Pakistan with her sons Ali, now 11 and seven-year-old Bilal.

Yesterday, with the support of campaigners for human rights of asylum seekers, she attended a tearful meeting with immigration officials in Glasgow, fully expecting to be detained. She was ordered to attend the meeting with her sons - ringing alarm bells among campaigners, including Glasgow-based Positive Action In Housing and the Unity Centre.

There were more tears when she came out of the meeting with a two-week reprieve.

"It is a great relief but I am aware it is just temporary," she said. "We are always worried about what is going to happen. I am a mother and I don't know what to do. My children, who are both at school, like it here.

"We were terrified about the meeting because normally it is just me who reports and lots of families have been taken away recently.

"If they detain us, it will be the worst thing. I tried to save myself and my children. No-one will stand up for us in Pakistan. We came here for refuge, not benefits."

Ali and Bilal, who attend St Brendan's Primary School, have broad Glaswegian accents. Both are worried about what is going to happen to them after being aware of schoolfriends who had been detained by the Home Office.

"They won't let you out, you can't go out, they keep you locked up and maybe they will send you back to your country," said Ali.

"But Pakistan's not my country, because it doesn't feel like it and I don't want to go back. My best friend was one day in class and the next day, he wasn't. He never came back.

"I tell my wee brother maybe they will take us away one day so he has some idea what's going to happen.

"Bilal cries about it because he was really small when he came here. We don't remember anything about Pakistan."

Robina Qureshi, executive director of Positive Action in Housing, the charity which has played a pivotal role in challenging racism and discrimination, particularly in housing, said: "She has a fresh claim in for refugee status and we are just concerned nothing should happen to this family."