Yesterday the Department of Justice confirmed that the deportation order against the 14-year-old and his family had been revoked and that he had been given permission to remain in the State.
Nonso Muojeke, a Tullamore student, was facing deportation after living in Ireland since he was two years old. His family lived in Direct Provision before moving to Tullamore. Muojeke's father died in 2006 and his family moved to Ireland the following year.
Nonso spoke about the relief of not being deported on RTÉ's Morning Ireland:
I didn’t really expect it to come so soon, I would have expected another year or two. When I heard it at 1 o’clock in the morning, my mom woke me up just to tell me, she was so happy, she kept on talking about it, she was texting Joe and Ann and all the people who supported us. I was mostly thinking about what’s going to happen now, what’s going to happen in my future? We’ve been reading the documents, how we have to go through everything to finally solidify the residency process.
A petition to 'Save Nonso' was signed by over 20,000 people and sent to Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan. Speaking to The Irish Times, Nonso's teacher Joe Caslin said the journey to save Nonso was a valuable lesson for them all:
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We wanted to keep this boy and his family in the community, he had been part of the school community for 7 years, we felt that an incredible injustice was taking place and we were united, we stood behind this simple cause.It was one the greatest lessons that our students learned last year and this year, that they can make an impact, that a simple thing, if you follow it through that you have a voice, that’s a life lesson for our kids.
Nonso hopes to continue playing basketball and get a scholarship to study in America.
