The plight of the Brain family would thaw even the iciest of hearts.

An Australian couple, young son in tow, following their Highland dream. A vengeful Home Office seemingly hell-bent on following to the letter some of the most draconian immigration policy ever enacted on this sceptred isle.

And, set against the faceless mandarins, a community -- and a country -- rallying around a dreadful injustice.

Friends in the Brains' hometown of Dingwall set to a crowdfunder to support their campaign to stay in their adopted land. The congregation of the local church -- in which have worshipped since arriving in 2011 -- chipped in at least £3000 for their legal expenses.

Even in putatively divided Scottish politics, every party in Holyrood lent support to the Brains. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon met the family last week and has written twice to Home Secretary Theresa May pleading clemency.

The lobbying seems to be having some effect.

The family -- who had previously been granted two extensions -- could have been deported as early as Tuesday, but immigration minister James Brokenshire has given the Brains leave to remain in Scotland until August 1.

But neither Kathryn nor Gregg are allowed to work, and both face the threat of having their drivers' licences and bank accounts frozen.

The Brains' struggle to stay in the land they love continues.

It's undoubtedly a romantic tale, and one can only hope it gets the happy ending it deserves.

And yet the case being made by those who want the Brains to be allowed to stay in Scotland has made me increasingly squeamish.

Writing in last weekend's Sunday Times, former SNP press impresario Kevin Pringle made an impassioned plea for the family to be allowed to remain. Their ancestors, he adduced, hail from this country; they have invested a significant portion of their adult lives here; their son, seven-year-old Lachlan's, "first language is Gaelic".

Let's think about this for a minute. Leaving aside the question of whether a child whose parents are not Gaelic speakers can be described as having the tongue as his first language -- the boy attends an intensive Gaelic-language primary school in Dingwall and removal would doubtless harm his educational development -- the argument being made here is essentially that the family should stay because, well, they are practically Scottish. They are one of "us", with all the entitlement to belonging that entails.

These sentiments have been echoed elsewhere. Local MP Ian Blackford recently suggested that there could be a human rights case for keeping young Lachlan in Scotland so that he could continue his Gaelic studies. Others have evoked the Clearances.

There is little doubt that the Brains' attachment to this country is genuine. The couple were attracted, it seems, by a £40m Highland Homecoming PR campaign by the Scottish Government. They came initially on a student visa, intending to move onto a two-year post-study work visa once Kathryn had completed her studies at the University of the Highlands and Islands.

But, in 2012, the Home Office cancelled the post-visa scheme, forcing the couple to comply with far more arduous Tier 2 regulations if they wished to stay.

The law is indeed an ass. But the Brains' case is not as sui generis as it has often appeared in press clippings.

In the wake of Home Office rule changes many were forced to leave Scotland. Almost overnight, the Edinburgh sports team I captained saw numbers plummet as highly motivated young players -- educated at great expense in our universities -- were sent home. Sure, SNP politicians and others decried the lunacy of this policy, but there were no rallying appeals to "Highland hospitality" and the like.

Around the same time as the Home Office cancelled the post-study work visa, a minimum earning threshold of £18,600 was introduced for UK citizens who want to live here with non-British spouses. Almost half of us do not earn that much.

Since 2012, at least 15,000 couples have been forced to leave the UK because of these changes. I've met some of these; many are committed, passionate people with skills we need. But there has been little political support for their cases. Instead the UK government set up the terrifyingly-titled Hostile Environment for Migrants Working Group. This is the reality most migrants now face.

In Scotland, there is strong evidence that the notorious dawn raids have started up again. There are no television cameras rolling when officers from the Home Office Enforcement break into homes in the wee hours of the morning, as has been happening parts of Glasgow. In 2015, almost 1500 people were detained in Dungavel, according to figures from the Scottish Refugee Council. Many of these are have compelling cases but receive little, if any, support.

Scotland can be a welcoming place for migrants. (It has put up with me for the best part of a decade.) With an ageing workforce, Scotland needs many of the very people that are being detained and deported.

But by making a case for families such as the Brains in narrowly 'Scottish' terms we risk forgetting the thousands of others who are ethnically and racially different, but often have just as much to offer.

Comment by Peter Geoghegan, an Irish writer, broadcaster, and investigative journalist based in Glasgow. Peter is author of The People's Referendum, a critically acclaimed exploration of the historical and social trends influencing the 2014 Scottish independence vote. His articles appear in outlets including the Guardian, the National and the Ferret. Follow him on Twitter: @PeterKGeoghegan.