PANAJI
A family from Utorda by the surname Lopez, mother and her two minor children, failed in their attempt to gain asylum in Austria and were put through the rigours of a deportation on Thursday, according to multiple reports in the international media.
Eight Austrian police officers including two women officers, escorted Emila Lopez, the mother, and her two children, son Joshua and daughter Joia, on a flight from Austria to Delhi.
They arrived in the national capital at 7 am on Friday and were handed over to Indian authorities, the reports said. However The Goan was unable to establish contact with the family and it is not ascertained whether they have been brought to Goa.
Although sources in the Goa police said some personnel have proceeded to Delhi to bring the family, no police officer was willing to come on record or give any details on the matter.
According to the Austrian media reports, Emilia and her children had moved to that country legally back in 2019 on a Schengen (travel) visa.
Joshua was 11 then and the family integrated in the local Austrian community.
They officially applied for asylum two years later in 2021 and were "well-integrated" in Haslach, Upper Austria where Emilia worked as a cook in a Inn and also as a sacristan in the church.
The entire deportation caused quite a stir in Austria with locals holding demonstrations against it, the media reports suggest.
One media report said the Austrian interior ministry and the authorities "organized a game of confusion" during a demonstration seeking their whereabouts near the Vienna detention center, even as they were already on the plane flying to India.
Another report said, the family was picked up from their home in Haslach, Upper Austria, pre-dawn on Tuesday. A local newspaper there reported that officers even broke down the door of their apartment. The family was then taken to the Vienna detention centre until they were flown out to Delhi on Thursday evening.
Another report in the Austrian media quoted the Interior Minister Gerhard Karner as defending the action.
"The case was finally decided by the Federal Administrative Court “ that is to be accepted," Karner was quoted as saying even as he argued that illegal immigration and asylum abuse must be clearly separated from legal immigration for work purposes.
According to the reports, the Lopez family has repeatedly said in Austria that they were endangered in India because of their Catholic faith.
