Bulatlat - The Philippines's alternative weekly newsmagazine

This story was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 41, November 20-26, 2005

MIGRANT WATCH

Wrongfully Deported Fil-Aussie back in Australia

A Filipino-Australian who was wrongfully deported due to a discriminating immigration culture finally returned to Australia. Her lawyers say they will now pursue compensation for her.

BY CESAR BEN BASAN BAROña
Bulatlat

Sydney, Australia – She was the face that Australia disowned.

Filipino-Australian Vivian Alvarez Solon, also known as Vivian Alvarez Solon Young, is back in Australia after suffering wrongful deportation in the hands of Australian immigration authorities.

In an ordeal that has exposed a discriminating immigration culture that led to a review of Australian immigration policies and practices and led to the Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, apologizing for the government blunder, Solon's lawyers will now pursue compensation for her.

Solon arrived in Sydney, delighted to finally have the chance to see her family, especially her two boys. In front of media, hours after arrival, she let her lawyers explain that she was happy to be back in Australia and that she doesn't hold a grudge against the Australian government.

"In the tradition of heroes, Vivian does not bear a grudge against anybody," said her chief spokesman and barrister, former Federal Court judge Marcus Einfield to Australian media.

Solon sat in a wheelchair, showing the frailty of her physical condition. According to one of her lawyers, George Newhouse, Solon needed a tube to swallow, "had trouble keeping food down, nursed a partially paralyzed hand, suffered permanent pelvic pain from a possible back injury and could only walk a few steps."

Solon returned after the Australian Government agreed to a binding arbitration process that would facilitate compensation for her. Solon's lawyers will pursue damages and raise issues such as "loss of earnings and earning capacity, medical expenses, pain and suffering, lost time with her children and her future needs in the likely event she does not fully recover."

Solon herself has not complained against anyone but lawyers pointed out that "Vivian did not bring this wrong on herself."

Senator Amanda Vanstone, immigration minister, stated that she was "very pleased" that Solon had returned after a "serious mistake."

Solon will stay in Sydney for a while to receive specialist medical treatment.

The making of a political storm

Solon, an immigrant from the Philippines since 1988, was wrongfully deported from Australia after she was suspected of being an illegal immigrant. Solon was reported missing in Queensland by her former husband, Robert Young, after she failed to fetch her son in 2001.

Solon was found in a gutter in another state, New South Wales, looking dazed and confused. She was brought to Lismore Base hospital which said she was suffering from head, neck and spinal injuries, believed to be a result of assault. Mentally distraught, Solon could not assert her identity. Australian Immigration officials decided to deport her, facilitated by the Philippine embassy in Australia, despite her being medically unfit to travel. She suffered seizures and traveled in a wheelchair.

Solon was housed in a hospice for the frail and the dying in Olongapo for four years. In the meantime, a political storm was brewing in Australia. Solon's wrongful deportation was discovered in 2003 by an immigration official who did not release the information to the public.

It took almost two years before acting Immigration Minister Peter Garrin announced that an Australian citizen was mistakenly expelled. This led to a federal police search. Vivian Solon's whereabouts was discovered in May 2005 after the Olongapo hospice's chaplain, Father Mike Duffin, recognized the photos of Solon from a satellite news program.

The case and others stirred a political storm and criticisms of an immigration "culture that views everyone as an enemy." The Solon case caused much embarrassment to the conservative Howard government. Australian Prime Minister John Howard publicly apologized for the immigration bungle. Bulatlat

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