Immigration and Asylum Minister Gerd Leers is to look into the case of a terminally ill primary school pupil and his mother who are facing repatriation to Sri Lanka.

The Dutch authorities will not deport anyone who is too ill to travel, the minister's spokesperson emphasised. He was speaking in response to a newspaper article in which the child's school head warns of the deportation the pupil and his mother are facing.

The opposition has voiced dismay at the news and will question the minister later this week. The ministry is examining all the aspects, the spokesperson said. It is also looking at the pupil's visa request to visit his grandmother one last time before he dies.

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