Massah Mohammad Hamdan, a 13-month-old baby girl born in the UK, faces deportation after her re-entry to the country was classified as that of a tourist, following a trip abroad before her immigration status was confirmed. Massah was born in the Midlands in April of last year. Her parents are from Jordan. In 2021, her father moved to the UK to do his PhD, and her mother followed him as a dependent.

The first time the family went overseas was in January. Since her immigration status was unknown at the time, Massah entered the UK again as a visitor. The Daily Mail reports that she “will be required to immediately leave the UK,” according to a letter her parents recently received from the Home Office, according to Sky News.

The Home Office has advised the family that they must reapply for Massah’s visa from Jordan, emphasizing that the “need to maintain the integrity of the immigration laws outweighs the possible effect on you/your children,” Mail Online reported. Despite the couple’s efforts to obtain Massah a child-dependent visa from within the United Kingdom, this order remains in effect.

Muhammad, Massah’s father, conveyed his anguish about the state of affairs, saying he has had trouble sleeping and has tried, but failed, to get assistance from his member of parliament, according to the Mirror. Because of the continuous unrest in the Middle East, the family is reluctant to go back to Jordan and worries that Massah’s visa application will again be denied.

“I can’t imagine how I can tell her the story in the future that the country you [were] born asked you to leave while you [were] a year old,” Mohammad told Sky News. “I’m trying to fix everything. I don’t need to consider a one-year-old infant as an overstayer here.”

A spokesperson for the Home Office stated to Mail Online, “All visa applications are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with the Immigration Rules. We are working closely with the parents of this child to ensure they receive the support and direction they require regarding the application.”

The UK government is committed to lowering both legal and illegal immigration, notwithstanding the fear of deportation. The gap between the number of individuals migrating to and from Britain, or net migration, has somewhat decreased, according to recent statistics as cited by the Mirror. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that a decline in emigration and a reduction in the number of foreign students entering in 2022 caused net migration to drop from a record 764,000 to 685,000. Experts point out that immigration numbers are still far greater than they were before to the Covid pandemic, notwithstanding this decline.

Following new ministerial limitations on the number of family members that migrants may bring to the UK, further declines in net migration are expected. But according to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the first flights to return refugees to Rwanda won’t take place until after the July 4 general election, the Daily Mail said.