Angelica brought to airport

30 July 2007

BRUSSELS – Angelica and her mother have been brought to Zaventem airport. They will be deported later today because they have been living in Belgium illegally. Anne Malherbe, the Belgian wife of the Ecuadorian president, has asked Belgium to reconsider its decision to deport 11-year-old Angelica and her mother.

The two are expected to be put on a plane headed for Ecuador tonight nonetheless. The Ecuadorian woman and her daughter have been living in Belgium as illegal aliens for four years. They never applied for residence permission.

A month ago they were taken into custody and brought to the closed asylum centre 127bis in Steenokkerzeel, where they have been locked up ever since.

The decision to hold the two in custody provoked enormous protest, especially since Angelica has been attending school here.

On Sunday a group of people demonstrated at the gates of the closed centre. Anne Malherbe, Belgian wife of Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa, has also got involved in the debate.

“It really is shocking to see an 11-year-old girl locked up, since the beginning of her summer holiday no less.”

“I am ashamed to be Belgian,” Malherbe said. “The mother and daughter are traumatised. This is a terrible case.”

Angelica’s mother reportedly has plans to marry a Belgian national of Colombian descent. Should this marriage take place then both she and daughter Angelica will be able to return to Belgium legally.

Subject: Belgian news