Expulsion ruling threatens family

A mother-of-four faces the break-up of her family after failing yesterday to overturn a Home Office decision to deport her to Pakistan, writes Adam Sage. Naheed Ejaz will try to place her children in the care of Berkshire social services if she is sent back to Punjab, according to her lawyers.

However, this may not be possible. The Home Office says that because three of the children travelled to Pakistan in 1991, they should be deported as well - even though they were born in England. The youngest daughter did not make the journey and so could remain here.

Yesterday, after the High Court turned down her application to stay in England, Ms Ejaz, 28, said she would appeal.

The court heard that Ms Ejaz settled in England eight years ago, obtaining British nationality in 1991 on the grounds that her husband, Arshad Iqbal, was a citizen of this country.

However, the Home Office then discovered that Mr Iqbal's passport had been procured by deception, prompting officials to annul not only his citizenship but also that of his wife.

In the meantime, Ms Ejaz had visited Pakistan with three of her children, returning on what she wrongly assumed to be a valid British passport. According to the Home Office, this made her an illegal immigrant who had entered without the necessary documents.

Last September, she and her children were held for four days by immigration officers. Deportation was postponed when friends protested in Whitehall.