Sara fears her father will be deported from Australia to Nauru – a place of ‘final and lifelong punishment’

Youssef served time in jail for a string of offences. Now, as one of 350 non-citizens who make up the NZYQ cohort, he faces deportation A daughter’s plea to halt her father’s deportation to Nauru – Full Story podcast Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast When the high court handed down a judgment in 2023 finding indefinite immigration detention unlawful, Sara* received a phone call that she still remembers vividly. “So I answer it and he basically says, Baba, I need you to come pick me up,” Sara recalls. On the other end of the line was her father, Youssef*, who, after five years, was finally free to leave the confines of a detention centre in Australia. “I drove down there and it was the first time that I actually saw him outside of detention or incarceration since I was very, very little,” Sara says. The pair exchanged hugs and kisses, and that evening shared KFC – Youssef’s favourite meal – with Sara’s mother. Sara and Youssef spent the next two years making up for lost time and “bonded deeply” over their shared interest in technology and cars, including a day out to watch the