You may have been following the story of Lili and Howick closely recently, and now after the success of allowing the children to stay in the Netherlands, it’s now time to bring the mother back according to some.
Lili and Howick: What’s happened so far?
I’ll try and keep this as short as possible, but basically Lili, Howick and her mother arrived in the Netherlands in 2008, where their asylum was not granted. The mother was deported back to Armenia last year, however the children stayed with a foster family. They only speak Dutch and are integrated into Dutch society, so it was not at all ethical to deport them in the first place. The judge ruled that could be deported. The people of the Netherlands were outraged. Thousands of people signed a petition for children in similar situations as Lili and Howick.
According to the NOS, 400 children are in the same boat as them.
The mother is now applying to stay
The State Secretary overturned this. This meant that they were allowed to stay. But what about the mother? Well, now the lawyer is attempting to bring her back to the Netherlands to reunite with her children so they can be a family. As the children have now been granted a residence permit, it means that they can now request for a family reunification for the mother. This is likely to take a while though (minimum 6 weeks). We will just have to wait and see what will come of this situation and if the mother will be able to return.
But surely the mother returning to the Netherlands as well won’t be a cause that would get the same support as the children had last weekend. So it’s another heated chapter as the immigration debate continues in the Netherlands.
What do you think about this? Let us know in the comments!
