Britain apologises for ‘appalling’ treatment of Windrush migrants
LONDON: Interior minister Amber Rudd apologised on Monday to thousands of British residents who arrived from the Caribbean decades ago and are now being denied basic rights after being incorrectly identified as illegal immigrants.
Prime Minister Theresa May is under growing pressure to resolve the issue of the ‘Windrush generation’ of migrants who arrived in Britain more than 50 years ago and have become victims of a recent tightening of the immigration system.
More than 140 lawmakers have signed a letter calling on May to resolve an anomaly that means many people who immigrated as children between 1948 and 1971 are being denied health services or prevented from working. Intensifying the row, junior home office minister Caroline Nokes admitted on Monday that some people may have been deported in error.
Many have been told they need evidence including passports to continue working or getting health treatment despite living, working and paying tax in Britain for decades. Some arrived on their parents’ documentation and never formally applied for British citizenship or a passport.
Rudd said on Monday a new unit would be established to help people establish their right to remain in Britain, and that if anyone needs to apply for new documents the fees will be waived.
“Frankly, some of the way they have been treated has been wrong, has been appalling, and I am sorry,” she told parliament.
There is widespread anger that long-term British residents have fallen victim to rule changes in 2012 — when May herself was interior minister — aimed at stopping overstaying.
May’s six-year tenure at the interior ministry was marked by a determination to reduce immigration numbers, something she has continued to emphasise as premier and in Brexit negotiations. In 2013, her ministry displayed billboards on vans telling illegal immigrants to “Go Home or Face Arrest.”
The row has threatened to overshadow Britain’s hosting of the annual Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in London this week. Ministers have said they hope to tighten ties and increase trade with the Commonwealth, a network of 53 countries, mostly former British colonies, after Britain leaves the European Union next year.
The immigrants are named after the Empire Windrush, one of the first ships to bring Caribbean migrants to Britain in 1948, when Commonwealth citizens were invited to fill labour shortages and help rebuild the economy after World War II.