A-level student Yashika Bageerathi makes emotional plea to Home Office to stay in the UK
A Mauritian student facing deportation has appealed directly to immigration minister James Brokenshire to let her stay in the UK to complete her A-levels.
Speaking to ITV News UK Editor Lucy Manning on the phone from inside Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre, Yashika Bageerathi said she just wanted to return to school and finish her studies, adding: "I have worked so hard."
Video report by UK Editor Lucy Manning.
She is due to be deported, despite protests from her school and an online petition that has now gathered more than 170,000 signatures.
Mr Brokenshire told MPs on the home affairs select committee this afternoon that he would listen to Yashika's plea, but said the deportation should go ahead.
Read: Immigration minister says deportation 'must go ahead'
Yashika's mother made a tearful call for her daughter to be released from the holding centre, saying she was "worried, scared and lonely" inside and did not deserve to be treated "like a criminal".
Yashika, who attended Oasis Academy Hadley in Enfield, north London, is a "fantastic student" who has been accepted to several universities, her school said.
Read: Top A-level student facing deportation
In an interview with ITV News, Yashika personally appealed to Immigration Minister James Brokenshire to let her stay to finish her A-levels, as well as to the Home Secretary to intervene on her behalf.
More: A-level student facing deportation makes personal appeal to Home Secretary
Speaking from inside Yarl's Wood, Yashika said she knew how hard she had been working for her exams, and just wanted to do well in them.
British Airways have refused to fly Yashika Bageerathi to Mauritius, the home affairs select committee heard today.