A Tamil mother has called on Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to intervene to stop her son being deported to Sri Lanka where she fears he could be slain.
Reeta Arulruban arrived in Australia from Sri Lanka by boat in 2012 and was granted permanent residency after more than a decade on temporary protection visas.
She tried to sponsor her son Dixtan but the Immigration Department refused his application in 2016.
Three years later, he managed to seek asylum in Australia arriving by plane but has been detained in Melbourne ever since.
The department last month issued a removal notice for Mr Arulruban, ordering he be deported.
As a member of the Tamil minority group, his mother fears he could be tortured or killed in Sri Lanka.
“Please prime minister, please reunite my son with me, who is the only remaining family member I have,” Ms Arulruban told AAP through an interpreter.
“The prime minister was brought up by a single mother – I hope he understands the bond between a mother and a son.”
Ms Arulruban said no one in the government was listening.
“Please help me and other refugees,” she said.
“I want all the people (refugees) to be given permanent residency.”
Her husband was killed in a massacre in 2009, when tens of thousands of civilians were caught between government troops and Tamil Tiger armed rebels during civil war.
Ms Arulruban, 55, experienced sexual assault at a military camp in 2012.
Her 26-year-old son’s Australian protection application was refused and he has exhausted all avenues for appeal.
Ms Arulruban’s appeal to the prime minister is her last real hope.
“I went through a lot of trauma, I went through sexual assault, I escaped and came to Australia,” she said.
“I was hoping to reunite with my son and they are trying to take him away from me.”
The department said it would not comment on individual cases.
“Individuals who no longer hold a valid visa are expected to depart Australia,” a spokesperson told AAP.
Nina Merlino, a lawyer acting for Mr Arulruban, confirmed she was filing an injunction against the department’s removal notice.
The Tamil Refugee Council said the community was devastated by the looming separation.
“Reeta and Dixtan have yearned for more than a decade to reunite and rebuild their lives in peace after such a traumatic past,” the council’s Renuga Inkapumar said.
(Courtesy AAP)