UK TO MAKE IT RIGHT
>> BRITISH GOV’T OFFERS WINDRUSH MIGRANTS CITIZENSHIP
INUNDATED BY a flood of harsh criticisms and public outrage over its handling of the Windrush Generation saga, the Theresa May-led Conservative Party Government yesterday moved beyond apology and compensation and pledged to grant citizenship to Caribbean migrants who helped to rebuild post-war Britain.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd, who has faced the brunt of criticisms from opposition lawmakers in the British Parliament on the issue, yesterday told her colleagues that she recognised the “harrowing” experiences that the Windrush migrants had undergone, even as she committed to righting the wrongs that had occurred.
She again apologised for the change in immigration rules that forced Caribbean nationals who migrated to the United Kingdom (UK) between 1948 and 1973 to prove that their status in Britain was legitimate by producing documentary evidence.
‘WE LET THEM DOWN’
“I am personally committed to resolving this situation with urgency and purpose. Of course, an apology is just the first step in putting right the wrongs that these people have suffered,” she told members of parliament.
“This should never have happened. We need to show a human face to how we work and exercise greater judgement where it is justified,” Rudd told Parliament, adding that all Home Office records dating back to 2002 would be checked to see if anyone had been wrongly deported.
“The State has let these people down – travel documents denied, exclusions of returning to the UK, benefits cut and threats to deport. This has happened for some time. I will
put this right, and where people have suffered loss, they will be compensated,” she told lawmakers.