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A SEVEN-YEAR-OLD Scots schoolgirl will be forced to move 7500 miles to the other side of the world because her mum is being deported.

Millie Canales, who was born in the UK and has lived in Scotland since she was a baby, is being sent to South America.

The P3 pupil, who speaks with a broad Scots accent, now faces a life of poverty in an earthquake zone in Chile with her pregnant mum Francisca.

Millie has only made two short trips to Chile and speaks no Spanish, so will be unable to communicate with anyone there.

She has known no other life apart from her semi-detached home in Stirling and her circle of friends at the city’s Braehead Primary School.

Millie said yesterday: “If I lose all my friends, I’ll be very sad. That is what the baddies want to do.”

Francisca, 27, who first came to the UK as a student when she was 16, said of her daughter, whose full name is Millaray: “She would be lost if we had to go to Chile now.

“She is like any other wee Scots girl, with a Scots accent and Scots friends.

“She has only been to Chile twice on holiday to see her gran and cannot read or write Spanish.”

Francisca added: “Scotland is my home, and my daughter has known no other home, but I feel everything I’m trying to do for my family is being sabotaged at every turn.

“I’ve never tried to hide from the UK Border Agency. I’ve always had the right visas and always kept them informed.

“I’ve always worked, paid my taxes and I’ve always tried to do the right thing for my family.

“The Human Rights Act states that all children are a priority and should always be protected.”

The UK Border Agency’s bombshell means Millie will be forced to live with her mum and grandmum in a cramped flat in the Chilean city of Talca, which has high levels of poverty and crime – and was virtually destroyed by a massive earthquake in 2010.

The family’s plight is made even worse by the fact that Francisca is five months pregnant.

She is having a baby boy with Millie’s Scots stepdad Barry Nicol, 30 – but immigration chiefs say that’s irrelevant and she must go.

Francisca was first told to leave the UK when she applied to extend her visa in June last year.

The Home Office based their decision on the fact that she was no longer living with Millie’s father, a Spanish national she met in the UK and who now plays no role in her daughter’s life.

Francisca claims she was given only days to quit the country but she then applied for permanent residence based on human rights laws.

This application was rejected in February and Millie now knows her fate and is terrified of losing her pals.

She said: “I don’t want to live in Chile because it is so far away.

“This is like goodies and baddies. We are the goodies but the baddies won’t put a stamp on my passport or my mum’s passport.”

Like most girls her age, Millie’s loves princesses. She’s got posters of princesses plastered over her bedroom walls and loves the book Princess Smartypants.

She also enjoys school, where her favourite subject is history and her favourite teacher is Mrs Muir.

Heartbroken Francisca said: “We didn’t plan this situation, it just happened.

“Millie was born in the UK, for goodness sake. We’ve not tried to bend the rules or cheat. We’ve always been honest and open.”

The UK Border Agency’s ruling that Francisca is in Scotland without permission has led to her being fired from her £17,500-a-year job in the insurance industry.

It means her family also face a financial struggle in the run-up to her baby’s birth.

Their last hope is an appeal tribunal hearing, due to be held on June 3.

Francisca said: “If I lose, I’ll need to return to live with my mum in Chile.

“I’ll have no choice but to take Millaray with me. That will be devastating.

“Chile is a foreign country to her, and I’ve not lived there since I was 16.”

(Image: DAVID JOHNSTONE)

Francisca is originally from Talca, 150 miles south of the capital Santiago. Her mum still lives in a small apartment in a poor area of city.

After coming to the UK, Francisca met a Spanish national in the south of England and the couple had Millie.

Mum and daughter moved to Scotland when the relationship broke down.

Francisca said: “Millaray was a baby, but I had some money I had saved and a job interview in West Lothian. I got the job.”

She met Barry four years ago and, although the couple have thought about marrying to keep the family together, they believe the UK Border Agency will argue it’s a marriage of convenience.

Francisca said: “Barry is like a father to Millaray. He is the only father she has ever known.”

Barry said: “Fighting this has already cost us £3000 with lawyers fees and the like. Now Francisca has had her job taken away and that will badly affect our family.

“It is as if the UK Border Agency want to bleed us dry of money so we can no longer fight.

“If we lose the case in June, I’ll have no choice but to take my family thousands of miles away to a country I know nothing about. I work in IT but I don’t have any knowledge of Spanish or the culture in Chile.”

Meanwhile, Barry’s parents Norman, 62, and Julie, 54, face the prospect of their grandson being born on the other side of the world.

Francisca said: “Barry is Scottish and surely has the right to enjoy his family life and newborn son when he arrives.

“In this nightmare, we cannot even plan for the baby’s arrival.”

The Government are set to break up the UK Border Agency following a catalogue of blunders which has allowed a flood of illegal immigrants into the UK, some of them criminals.

Francisca said: “I’ve worked here all of my adult life and paid for my studies and contributed to the system as much as anyone. I’ve been an honest resident and I’m not a criminal.”

Stirling MP Anne McGuire has backed Francisca and Millie’s battle to stay in the country.

The Labour politician said: “I think more consideration should have been given to the fact that we have a wee girl who has been born and brought up in Britain and has a loving parent who has settled here.

“Millie has no experience of Chile. The Government shouldn’t be taking action to deport her mum while the appeal is pending as Franscisca has a good case to stay in the UK.”

A Home Office spokesman said: “All those seeking leave to live in the UK must be able to prove that they satisfy the criteria set out in the immigration rules, and all applications are judged against the same criteria.

“Individuals with no right to remain here should leave voluntarily and are given the opportunity and support to do so.”

They would not comment on Millie’s role in the process.

However, a UK Border Agency source said it would be normal for a single parent’s dependants to leave the country if the lone parent is deported, even if they were born here.



A Facebook page has also been set up to Save Millie and her mum from deportation