“The number of people that are being detained and deported as part of the TOEIC victims scandal is increasing significantly,” Mostafa Rajaai, international students’ officer at NUS told The PIE News. “And so we’re seeing these effects on students and their families.”

The meeting, held jointly by the NUS International Students’ Campaign and the NUS Black Students’ Campaign, was called in light of more Home Office detentions and deportations of student victims – despite the fact that a tribunal found the government relied on hearsay and not firm evidence when deciding that thousands of students should be deported.

“We need this at the moment to be able to resist this particular situation”

The meeting was held at the School of Oriental and African Studies in central London, with representatives from campaign group, Movement for Justice, Bindmans LLP, a London-based law firm, as well as victims from the TOEIC scandal in attendance.

The topic of immigration has been used as a tool to push the country’s politics to the right, commented Rajaai, and the network’s purpose is to put “political pressure on the establishment to change the direction of this country’s politics when it comes to immigrants and refugees”.

“The TOEIC victims is the most pressing issue at the moment, so we need this at the moment to be able to resist this particular situation,” Rajaai added.

There are hopes to lay the foundations for a wider student-led anti-deportation network.

“The aim is that we use this opportunity, as bad as it is, to create something for the future generations when they go through similar [events],” said Rajaai.

Impacted students claim to have lost thousands of pounds as well as the chance to complete their studies.