Latest update concerning Adriana Ortega-Zeifert

Photo taken on the 25th September 2019 of Adriana stating, “Motherhood & domestic violence shouldn’t limit or define personal & professional opportunities to women.”

We understand that many academic staff, students, and activists have been asking us what has happened to Adriana Ortega-Zeifert following her hearing in family court that took place on Wednesday 2nd October. For legal reasons, Unis Resist Border Controls (URBC) cannot discuss any further Adriana’s current situation.

However, Adriana has relayed this message to us:

“Thank you to all my supporters who have raised over £2,000 in my fight to keep my family together in the UK. The kind words that you have left on my fundraiser has uplifted me during bleak times and given me the strength to continue on. It’s been a very hectic few weeks for me legally and otherwise. I cannot go into details. Unfortunately, the way things are looking, my case to keep my family together & to remain in the UK will be a long one. Please help me reach my target goal so I can get the legal support to help me win this fight!”

Please continue to do these four things to support Adriana’s struggle to keep her family together and to remain in the UK. They are the following:

1. Donate to her JustGiving fundraiser for to help pay for her legal costs. Adriana needs to raise £10,000 for her & her daughter’s fresh claim application and their solicitors fees. Any funds you can donate at this time would be much appreciated. The link to Adriana’s JustGiving fundraiser can be accessed here: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/adriana-ortega-zeifert

2. Sing this URBC letter in support of Adriana. Join the over 300 academics, students & UCU members who have endorsed a statement from URBC demanding that the Home Office give Adriana & her daughters leave to remain and for the University of Manchester to allow Adriana back on her PhD course. You can sign and share the statement here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/15gnX9PY4vC8fjN6O_Zgk5lRYuoDhBWoP7ssArvH5Mh8/edit

3. Join 2,000 supporters who have signeda Change.org petition demanding the Home Office not deport Adriana & her daughters back to Mexico:
https://www.change.org/p/priti-patel-mp-minister-for-the-home-office-home-office-unfairly-deporting-talented-academic-and-her-daughters

4. Have your UCU branch pass our motion for Adriana! We are also asking UCU member to specifically pass this emergency motion in support of Adriana and her family:

Motion for Adriana

This motion notes:

Adriana Ortega-Zeifert is an international student from Mexico who came to the United Kingdom in April 2010 to pursue a PhD at the University of Manchester, having been awarded a scholarship to pursue her groundbreaking research.

Professor Peter Gardner, Adriana’s supervisor, states that she is: “doing some really cutting edge research in the field of prostate cancer diagnosis using state-of-the-art analysis system including collaboration with leading US researchers at the University of Wisconsin. Her work on cancer associated fibroblasts is ground breaking and is just waiting to be finished off before publication.”

However, Adriana was forced to take an interruption from her PhD studies as a result of mental health issues brought on by years of sexual, emotional, financial abuse and parental alienation at the hands of her ex-partner while he was also a student at the University of Manchester.

Because of her severe depression, PTSD and the side effects of antidepressant sertraline, Adriana failed to send  her second extension visa application to the Home Office. As a result, the University of Manchester withdrew her from her PhD studies. 

Compounding matters, Adriana has been instructed by family court that her three daughters must return to Mexico to visit her ex-partner. Adriana and her three daughters want to remain in Manchester. Because of the hostile environment policy, if they are forced to return to Mexico, there is no way that they would be allowed to re-enter the UK for ten years or more. 

Already people in Manchester and around the UK are supporting Adriana’s struggle; over 2,000 individuals have signed Adriana’s Change.org petition demanding that the Home Office grant them leave to remain status in the UK. Close to 300 academics, students, and union members from UCU and Unite the Union have signed a letter from Unis Resist Border Controls demanding the Home Office to grant Adriana and her three daughters leave to remain & for the University of Manchester to bring Adriana back on her course. 

This motion resolves

1. To pressure University of Manchester to allow Adriana Ortega-Zeifert back on her PhD course, to resume her important groundbreaking research.

2..To demand the UK family courts give primary custody to Adriana Ortega-Zeifert. 

3. To demand that the Home Office grant Adriana Ortega-Zeifert and her three daughters be granted leave to remain in the UK.

4. To donate £150 from local branch funds for Adriana’s ongoing legal costs.




UCU members: show support for Adriana & her three daughters at this crucial moment. Pass our emergency motion in your branches!

Adriana and her three daughter on a day out in Manchester.

Since August, Unis Resist Border Controls has been keeping everyone informed of Adriana Ortega-Zeifert’s fight against the violence of the hostile environment policy that might led to her and her daughter’s deportation on the Wednesday 2nd October 2019.

Not only is Adriana a talented researcher, a survivor of domestic violence, but also a fellow UCU member.

A few days ago we informed you that there are three things that all academics, students, and union officials who are oppose to the hostile environment in higher education and all other areas can do to support Adriana and her family.

They are the following:

1. Donate to her JustGiving fundraiser for to help pay for her legal costs. Adriana needs to raise £10,000 for her & her daughter’s fresh claim application and their solicitor’s fees before the 2nd October 2019. Any funds you can donate at this time would be much appreciated. The link to Adriana’s JustGiving fundraiser can be accessed here: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/adriana-ortega-zeifert

2. Join the over 100 academics, students & UCU members who have endorsed a statement from URBC demanding that the Home Office give Adriana & her daughters leave to remain and for the University of Manchester to allow Adriana back on her PhD course. You can sign and share the statment here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/15gnX9PY4vC8fjN6O_Zgk5lRYuoDhBWoP7ssArvH5Mh8/edit

3. Join 2,000 supporters who have signeda Change.org petition demanding the Home Office not deport Adriana & her daughters back to Mexico:
https://www.change.org/p/priti-patel-mp-minister-for-the-home-office-home-office-unfairly-deporting-talented-academic-and-her-daughters

We are also asking UCU member to specifically pass this emergency motion in support of Adriana and her family:

Motion for Adriana

This motion notes:

Adriana Ortega-Zeifert is an international student from Mexico who came to the United Kingdom in April 2010 to pursue a PhD at the University of Manchester, having been awarded a scholarship to pursue her groundbreaking research.

Professor Peter Gardner, Adriana’s supervisor, states that she is: “doing some really cutting edge research in the field of prostate cancer diagnosis using state-of-the-art analysis system including collaboration with leading US researchers at the University of Wisconsin. Her work on cancer associated fibroblasts is ground breaking and is just waiting to be finished off before publication.”

However, Adriana was forced to take an interruption from her PhD studies as a result of mental health issues brought on by years of sexual, emotional, financial abuse and parental alienation at the hands of her ex-partner while he was also a student at the University of Manchester.

Because of her severe depression, PTSD and the side effects of antidepressant sertraline, Adriana failed to send  her second extension visa application to the Home Office. As a result, the University of Manchester withdrew her from her PhD studies. 

Compounding matters, Adriana has been instructed by family court that her three daughters must return to Mexico to visit her ex-partner. Adriana and her three daughters want to remain in Manchester. Because of the hostile environment policy, if they are forced to return to Mexico, there is no way that they would be allowed to re-enter the UK for ten years or more. 

Already people in Manchester and around the UK are supporting Adriana’s struggle; over 2,000 individuals have signed Adriana’s Change.org petition demanding that the Home Office grant them leave to remain status in the UK. Close to 300 academics, students, and union members from UCU and Unite the Union have signed a letter from Unis Resist Border Controls demanding the Home Office to grant Adriana and her three daughters leave to remain & for the University of Manchester to bring Adriana back on her course. 

This motion resolves

1. To pressure University of Manchester to allow Adriana Ortega-Zeifert back on her PhD course, to resume her important groundbreaking research.

2..To demand the UK family courts give primary custody to Adriana Ortega-Zeifert. 

3. To demand that the Home Office grant Adriana Ortega-Zeifert and her three daughters be granted leave to remain in the UK.

4. To donate £150 from local branch funds for Adriana’s ongoing legal costs.

Unis Resist Border Controls is asking UCU members to show solidarity with Adriana and her family before Wednesday 2nd October 2019 when they have to have their fresh claim application filed to the Home Office. Without the £10,000 to pay for their fresh claim application and legal fees, Adriana and her three daughters deportation will go ahead. We cannot let this happen! Help keep Adriana and her family together in the Manchester community that they have built roots in and now call home!


UPDATE: Adriana Ortega-Zeifert & her children need our urgent solidarity to stop their deportation. Learn what you can do to help!

Adriana and her three daughters.

In August, Unis Resist Border Controls told you about the case of Adriana Ortega-Zeifert, a talented PhD researcher and survivor of domestic violence who is fighting to keep her family in the UK.

On the 8th August 2019, Adriana’s three daughters were forced by family court to leave the UK and to visit their father, and ex-partner of Adriana who abused her for years while she was a PhD student. However, Adriana’s daughters protested and refused to board the AeroMexico flight headed to Mexico City.


While it is great news that Adriana and her children have been reunited, the fight to keep her family together is far from over.

The family courts still maintain that her daughters must go back to Mexico. However, the family court’s decision to force Adriana’s daughters to return to Mexico harm their existing family application for leave to remain in the UK. Adriana’s children are adamant that they do not want to return to Mexico. Compounding matters is that family courts have ruled that if Adriana’s daughters fail to return to Mexico by Wednesday 2nd October 2019, Adriana may face a jail sentence.

As Adriana’s further comments,

“It is both outrageous and disappointing that I could face imprisonment just because my children refused to board a plane to visit their father because they are scared to be forced to live with him. Family court is essentially forcing my daughters to return to Mexico and not granting them the right to apply for further leave to remain, which they are entitled to as they are approaching the 10 years mark of living in the UK.”

Adriana’s case highlights the intersection of the hostile environment policy and how it particularly affects migrant women who flee domestic abuse. As Sister’s Uncut states,

“The state cuts off support for people with different kinds of immigration status; this is called ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’. For migrant women who experience domestic violence, this is life-threatening. This is because about half the funding for refuges comes from housing benefits, which migrant women are usually barred from. As a result, migrant women and their children have been turned away from domestic violence shelters. In 2017, just 7% of women with No Recourse to Public Funds found space in a shelter when leaving domestic violence. This shows the racism at the heart of the criminal justice and immigration systems, which puts deportation before domestic violence services. “

Next step

Adriana and her daughters are putting in another fresh claim application for indefinite leave to remain before the 2nd October 2019 deadline to stop their deportation back to Mexico.

What you can do to help Adriana

At this critical stage in Adriana’s case, there are many things that one can do to support her and her daughters fight to remain in the UK. Here are a few things that you can do:

1. Donate to her JustGiving fundraiser for to help pay for her legal costs. Adriana needs to raise £10,000 for her & her daughter’s fresh claim application and their solicitor’s fees before the 2nd October 2019. Any funds you can donate at this time would be much appreciated. The link to Adriana’s JustGiving fundraiser can be accessed here: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/adriana-ortega-zeifert

2. Join the over 100 academics, students & UCU members who have endorsed a statement from URBC demanding that the Home Office give Adriana & her daughters leave to remain and for the University of Manchester to allow Adriana back on her PhD course. You can sign and share the statment here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/15gnX9PY4vC8fjN6O_Zgk5lRYuoDhBWoP7ssArvH5Mh8/edit

3. Join 2,000 supporters who have signed a Change.org petition demanding the Home Office not deport Adriana & her daughters back to Mexico:
https://www.change.org/p/priti-patel-mp-minister-for-the-home-office-home-office-unfairly-deporting-talented-academic-and-her-daughters

If you do all three steps, this will greatly ensure that Adriana and her daughters will be able to fight to remain in the UK. Let’s continue to support them at this crucial period to stop them from being deported back to Mexico.

Support Luqman Onikosi at his Immigration Tribunal in London on Friday 23rd August

University of Sussex alumni and Brighton migrant-rights campaigner, Luqman Onikosi. Photograph: The Tab.

Luqman Onikosi is an alumni of the University of Sussex and a well-known Brighton community campaigner and volunteer for numerous causes.

Luqman applied to stay in the UK on medical grounds after being diagnosed with Hepatitis B and chronic liver disease while studying at the University of Sussex. His health conditions – which are fatal if left untreated – claimed the lives of his two brothers in Nigeria, where medical support for this condition is not available.

Luqman has explored all available possibilities for treatment in Nigeria to no avail. Dr C. I. Anyanwu, a virology specialist, confirming in evidence submitted to the court hearing that ‘there is no definitive treatment available for the level of his condition he is experiencing in Nigeria at present.’

Being forced to return to Nigeria would be a death sentence for Luqman. The many years of waiting for a positive outcome from the Home Office has exacerbated Luqman’s mental and physical health.

Over 7,500 people signed a petition requesting the Home Office grant Luqman ‘Leave to Remain,’ and his case has been backed by high profile figures such as Noam Chomsky and academics from across the UK.

Now Luqman’s friends and supporters are hoping that a Home Office decision to remove Luqman from the country will be overturned, after he won the right to appeal his case before a judge. The Campaign to Stop the Deportation of Luqman Onikosi have informed us that Luqman is due back for a immigration tribunal hearing on Friday 23rd August, 9AM at Taylor House, 88 Rosebery Ave, Islington, London EC1R 4QU. If you are in the London area, please come and support Luqman at this critical juncture with his case. Luqman’s supporters have asked that you come exactly at 9AM to Taylor House.

From our workshop at Reclaim the Power’s Power Beyond Borders were participants held up signs in solidarity with Luqman Onikosi.

For those unable to be in London on the day, Unis Resist Border Controls (URBC) is asking our followers to show their solidarity and support for Luqman at this crucial period. With the support of The Campaign to Stop the Deportation of Luqman Onikosi, we are asking you to take part in our selfie protest action on Twitter on Thursday 22nd August from 7pm-9pm.

To take part in our twitter storm, please do the following:

1. Print or download our sign.
2. Take a selfie photo with printed sign or downloaded sign on your devise.
3. Tweet photo to the following addresses: @UnisNotBorders @BriMigSol &
@ukhomeoffice using the hashags: #LetLuqmanStay and #DontDeportLuqman

Let’s make sure that we send a strong message to the Home Office that Luqman belongs here in the UK with his friends! All disabled migrants have a right to remain in the UK and should not have their disability and/or health condition be used against them by the Home Office. No disabled migrant should be deported to countries where they could die as a result of a lack of resources.

Support a talented PhD researcher fighting for her family to remain in the UK!

Adriana Ortega-Zeifert with her three daughters.

Adriana Ortega-Zeifert is an international student from Mexico who came to the United Kingdom in April 2010 to pursue a PhD in Chemical Engineering & Analytical Science at the University of Manchester, having been awarded a scholarship to pursue her groundbreaking research.

However, Adriana was forced to take an interruption from her PhD studies as a result of mental health issues brought on by years of sexual, emotional, financial abuse and parental alienation at the hands of her ex-partner while he was also a PhD student at the University of Manchester.

Because of her severe depression, PTSD and the side effects of antidepressant sertraline, Adriana failed to complete sending her second extension visa application to the Home Office. As a result, the University of Manchester withdrew her from her PhD studies.

Compounding matters, Adriana has been instructed by family court that her three daughters must return to Mexico to visit her ex-partner. As a result of the hostile environment policy, if the children are forced to visit their father, it will make it very difficult for them to return to the UK. Family courts have ruled that if her daughters fail to return to Mexico before the end of Thursday 8th August 2019, Adriana could be imprisoned in the UK. Adriana’s three daughters are exceptional and academically gifted students who have given so much to the Manchester community. The children want to remain in Manchester with their mother and visit Mexico once they have permission to stay in UK. If they are forced to return to Mexico, there is no way that they would be allowed to re-enter the UK to be with their mother.

Adriana is a talented academic and independent woman who is being stifled by bureaucratic laws in addition to the hostile environment policy that creates real barriers for migrant women to gain justice. As she comments:

“The British government criticises other countries who institute misogynistic policies and laws. Yet, when it comes to the situation of migrant women who have endured sexual, emotional, psychological, and financial abuse inside the UK, our struggle is trivialised and we are criminalised for speaking out and stopping violence at the hands of our ex-partners. The court system sides with abusers instead of doing a proper investigation and giving support to survivors of violence like myself. It is emotionally hurtful, stressful and denigrating to be re-victimised by the family courts and the Home Office. All I want is safety for myself and my three children. I want to be able to finish my groundbreaking academic work and use this research to help others.”

What you can do to support Adriana:

Unis Resist Border Controls (URBC) urges supporters to sign and share our statement to be sent to Prime Minster Boris Johnson, Secretary of State Priti Patel, Leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, Shadow Secretary of State Diane Abbott and the Vice Chancellor of the University of Manchester, Dame Nancy Rothwell that you can access here.

We also urge you to sign Adriana’s Change.org petition.

Let’s use our collective voices to ensure that Adriana and three daughters are able to remain in the UK so that they can live in safety. We want to see Adriana be able to finish her important and much needed research.

Welcome to the Unis Resist Border Controls website!

In the next few weeks you’ll see pieces on the blog relating to various issues concerning the hostile environment policy inside British universities. We hope that the blog can connect people and groups are who are organising and resisting border controls in higher education.

If you are interested in writing a piece for the URBC blog, please email us at: UnisResistBorderControls [at] Gmail [dot] Com.

Unis Resist Border Controls

The Hostile Environment Policy has extended the border into UK universities

The ‘hostile environment policy’  is the anti-migrant policy announced by then-Home Secretary Theresa May in 2012, though effectively in place for years previously. The policy extends border policing into universities, healthcare, schools, and other sectors, forcing workers in those sectors to enforce immigration policy. In universities, the Home Office issues directives about its policies toward international staff and students, and university management understand these directives as ‘statutory duties’ with which they must ‘comply’. Student records offices and HR departments then develop local policies and present them to staff and students as if they were created by the Home Office.

Please navigate through the site to read more about it and see how to get involved.