Dublin City University (DCU) President Prof Brian MacCraith has joined hundreds of students in calling on Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan to review the case of Shepherd Machaya, a DCU student who faces the prospect of deportation to Zimbabwe after his asylum application was rejected.
In a press statement, MacCraith said he was calling on Flanagan “to review Shepherd’s case with a view to allowing him to remain in Ireland in order that he may complete his course of studies at DCU”.
Machaya is a beneficiary of DCU’s University of Sanctuary status. DCU offers scholarships to a small number of asylum seekers every year. University College Cork, University of Limerick and University College Dublin are the other institutions with the status.
In the last week, hundreds of DCU students have launched a campaign to save Machaya – a second-year student of management of information technology and information systems – from deportation after gathering outside the Department of Justice last Friday, demanding Flanagan review the case.
A petition launched by Dublin City University Students’ Union (DCUSU) last week has over 13,000 signatures. A statement released alongside the petition says that Machaya, if deported, “will be faced with the threat of torture from local ‘political’ groups, the very people who drove him out of the country nine years ago”.
In a video released by DCUSU last Wednesday, Machaya said that “Ireland, to me, has become my second home. This is the only place I know other than Zimbabwe. My life is still in danger if I were to go back”.
The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) has also joined calls for the deportation order to be revoked. In a press statement, USI President Síona Cahill said: “Pulling any student from their studies is unjust, pulling a man from a country where he calls home only to be sent back to where he courageously left due to life-threatening circumstances is barbaric and downright immoral.”
“The national student movement stands behind Shepherd and will be actively campaigning on his behalf alongside DCU Students’ Union to keep him in Ireland”, Cahill said.
