The courts’ decision regarding the deportation of Nunë (9) and Davit (7) is final: the siblings and their parents will remain in the Netherlands and be naturalized.
Translated by Mehret Haile-Mariam
Only a month ago, hundreds of people gathered in Groningen in solidarity with Nunë and Davit. Both were born and raised in the Netherlands. However, their parents, who fled Armenia in 2010, were denied asylum in the Netherlands. The children’s pardon scheme invoked by the parents in 2019 was rejected.
Consequently, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND) filed a lawsuit to have the family deported to the Transcaucasian country. In reaction, the family’s lawyer filed an appeal at the District Court of Groningen.
Finally, after a nerve-racking time for both the family and their supporters who rallied against the IND’s lawsuit and supported the objection to the eviction by signing a petition, the final verdict was announced last week: Nunë and Davit can stay.
The IND withdrew its lawsuit as the rejection of the children’s pardon scheme was based on the accusation that the family had been “out of the picture” for too long. However, the family proved (as did IND’s documents) that their current address has always been the same Groninger address and that the IND has been aware of that.
The family could not be happier as Nunë, Davit, and their parents will remain in the Netherlands! So is the Westra family, who has been supporting the family ever since they touched ground in the Netherlands 10 years ago. Edwin Westra confirmed:” We immediately picked them up from school to tell them the good news. This is what we fought for all these years.”
Images by Rieks Ojinhausen, via the GIC