Sisters facing deportation after ‘admin error’ released

Two sisters who were held in an immigration centre and were facing deportation after claims of “administrative errors” by the Home Office have been released.

Ivania Rodriguez Sanchez, 24, and Karla Rodriguez Sanchez, 26, fled to the UK in 2019 with their parents, who said they had been subject to extortion and threats by gang members in El Salvador.

The pair were held as “overstayers” in March and faced deportation last week despite submitting a new asylum application but have now been released as the government looks again at their claim, the BBC understands.

Pastor Rob Gale, from The Peoples Church in Nottingham which has been supporting the family said he was “so happy” for them.

The BBC understands the pair were released from Derwentside Immigration Removal Centre in County Durham on 18 April and their flights back to El Salvador were cancelled.

They were sent to an address in Staffordshire where they were living before they moved to Nottingham and their legal cases are now continuing.

Mr Gale told the BBC: “We’re all delighted that the sisters have been released, it’s been a long four weeks.

“I was so absolutely overjoyed… there was some tension but we’re all so happy they’ve been released… they’ve never been away from their mum and dad before and it was a huge moment for them.

“This has had a profound impact than we’ve yet to see but we’ll be doing all that we can to support them through this next phase.

“The case itself is very much still live and they will go through that appeal process with the Home Office and we’re hoping for a good outcome for them.”

Speaking from the detention centre before their release, Ivania said: “I feel so anxious, so depressed and everything… I’m not sleeping well, not eating and shaking all of the time.

“My family’s here I don’t want to be without them… I’m just crying all of the time.”

Their parents, father Hector and mother Raina’s asylum applications are still ongoing.

The family, who helped run a mini-market in El Salvador, said they were approached by gang members demanding extortion money of $500 (£383) a month for “protection”.

The sisters’ father could not make the payments and the family began to receive death threats from the gang.

The family then moved citie but they said the gang caught up with them.

Ivania was kidnapped and this was the “straw that broke that camel’s back” in order for them to leave, church pastor Rob Gale said.

The family said they moved to Nottingham in June 2024 from Staffordshire due to problems with their accommodation and began voliunteering at Mr Gale’s church.

He said the church became more involved with the asylum process when the family’s bid – which had all of them on the father’s application – was rejected in November last year.

After securing new legal representation, a fresh application for the four of them to stay was submitted in January.

Mr Gale said he was under the impression this was for the whole family but he now believes the Home Office only saw this as a report for the parents.

The two sisters, who report to an immigration centre in Loughborough, Leicestershire, every month, were then detained as “overstayers” on 20 March.

New individual claims for both Karla and Ivania were submitted the same day but Mr Gale said they “only appeared on the Home Office system on 7 April”.

He added the deportation process had “already begun” despite the sisters’ legal representatives chasing and submitting a number of pre-action protocol letters.

Nottingham East MP Nadia Whittome, added: “I am extremely relieved that Ivania and Karla have been released from detention and are back with their family.

“This was a horrible, traumatic ordeal that they shouldn’t have been put through.

“Their fight to stay here isn’t over yet, but I hope they will be granted asylum so they can continue to rebuild their lives in safety in our city.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “It is our longstanding policy not to comment on individual cases.”