Parliament votes against urging minister to give Mauro residency

MPs have voted by 72 to 78 against a motion calling on immigration minister Gerd Leers to give a residency permit to 18-year-old Angolan refugee Mauro Manuel.


Two dissident CDA MPs opted to toe the party line and vote against the motion, as did the fundamentalist Christian SGP.
MPs also voted against a second motion calling on the government to find a solution to the situation facing Mauro and other young asylum seekers.
Another motion, which would allow the youth to remain in the Netherlands while applying for a student visa was not debated. That motion has the support of the CDA, but opposition parties say it does not offer a permanent solution.

Academic

Mauro’s foster mother has also made it clear the youth, who is currently studying IT at a vocational training college, is not academic. According to the Volkskrant, the issue of a student visa may be debated again next week.
Mauro came to the Netherlands as an unaccompanied refugee at the age of nine and has lived with the same foster family in Limburg ever since. Now aged 18, he faces deportation back to Angola.
Children’s rights charities say deporting the youth after over eight years would break human rights and children’s rights treaties.
Mauro told reporters after the vote he was really very sorry about parliament’s decision.
mauro

For a BBC report on the Mauro affair, click here

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