Minister steps in to stop deportation of family with Down syndrome son
A Perth family who were on the brink of deportation because of their son’s Down syndrome have been granted permanent residency after an intervention from Immigration Minister Andrew Giles.
Last month, the family from India were told to leave because their 10-year-old son’s condition was viewed as a “burden” on the taxpayers.
Parent’s Krishna Aneesh and Aneesh Kollikkara begged the Immigration Minister to intervene, as their bridging visa was set to expire on March 15 and they had exhausted all other legal options.
The family had been living in Australia for seven years, and on Wednesday they received the happy news through a letter from Giles.
The letter read: "[The minister] has personally considered your case and has decided to exercise his public interest power in your case to substitute the decision of the [Administrative Appeals] Tribunal”.
Aneesh and her husband spoke to reporters after the decision came out, and said they were “over the moon” when they found out.
"I literally went into tears we can stay here we can live in this community we can provide a very good environment for our kids,” she said.
Both parents work in highly-skilled industries, with Aneesh as a cyber security expert and Kollikkara working in telecommunications.
People with Disability Australia treasurer Suresh Rajan, the family representative, said that their contribution to the society was taken into consideration in the intervention.
"That public interest criteria goes to the fact that Krishna and Aneesh are performing work in critical industries and the public wants them here," he said.
Rajan also shared the development on the family’s case on Twitter.
“Letter received from Minister Giles’ office granting permanent residency to Krishna and Aneesh. Hallelujah,” he captioned with a picture of the family.
Image: Twitter