**** **** came to the UK with his mother and father at the age of 3. All of his family, including his 2 younger sisters, have British citizenship. Abdi, by oversight, has never taken up his rights to citizenship.

**** grew up on the streets of inner-London. Any problems he may have are those endemic in the inner-city British society in which he has been raised. He has a record of property crime and has had drug and alcohol difficulties, for which he has never received any treatment. **** was convicted of Actual Bodily Harm following a fight. He pleaded guilty, claiming to have acted in self-defence, and was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment.

Towards the end of his sentence, **** was visisted by officers from the Home Office, who told him that he was due to be deported to Somalia at the end of his sentence. At first, **** thought that there had been a mistake and that his identity had been confused with someone else's. Nevertheless, on termination of his prison sentence, **** was incarcerated within the UK's "detention estate".

Removal directions were repeatedly set, dates came and went but, after some 19 months, **** remained in detention. Finally, **** was granted bail and released from detention. Some 10 days later, at one of his bi-weekly visits to an immigration reporting centre, he was re-detained. The Home office set new removal directions for Puntland in September 2008. Again, dates came and went and the Home Office was unable to remove ****- who, by this time, was so traumatised by his perpetual detention that he would willingly have agreed to go to Baghdad!

After two more aborted removal dates, **** was again granted bail last week. And the Home Office has now, once again, set removal directions for **** to be sent to ********* on October 18th. ******** is not recognised as an independent state by the UK Government. Abdi has never set foot in the country, knows nobody there, and speaks no Somali, other than a few very basic phrases.

His family are beside themselves with anxiety and grief. There is every chance that they may never see this young Londoner again if the Home Office goes ahead with its threatened removal.

For that reason, we are asking that people contact the Home Secretary, Jackie Smith at  Privateoffice.external@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk quoting ****'s ********* and voicing their shock and concern that a young Londoner, who has already served his sentence for his misdemeanours, should be removed from the only home he has ever known and sent to an entirely alien and potentially dangerous new society. **** is not a rapist or a terrorist. He poses no threat to UK society. He is simply a young man who, like so many others, has made mistakes, for which he has already paid.

Thank you for your support.