Kosovar girl goes into hiding before deportation

Djellza, the 16-year-old girl who was scheduled today to be put on a plane back to her native Kosovo, has gone into hiding. She plans to challenge the repatriation ruling. Djellza has lived in Belgium since she was a baby, speaks fluent Dutch and plans to study nursing.

A court order forced the young woman from Mechelen and her father to stay in an immigration detention centre since August. They returned to the centre for the last time on Friday evening after learning that the deportation would go through. Djellza has since gone into hiding to await her chance to appeal the decision, confirms her lawyer Maurice Mandelblat in the Belgian media.

"Djellza will file an appeal with the Board of Immigration Appeals, but the process can take months," says Mandelblat.