Windrush migrants granted apology
Rudd backs down as deportation row risks overshadowing Commonwealth meeting
THE Home Secretary last night apologised for the “appalling” treatment of Windrush migrants as the growing crisis over the issue threatened to overshadow the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
Commonwealth migrants who were previously assured of their place in the UK have been threatened with deportation, sacked from their jobs and denied access to health services after being unable to prove their status.
It comes at a time when Britain is attempting to strengthen its relationships with the Commonwealth and expand trade links post Brexit.
Last night critics pointed out that the Windrush generation of Caribbean immigrants, who have been here for half a century or more and helped Britain rebuild in the wake of the Second World War, were being denied rights that will be given to EU citizens after Brexit.
Amber Rudd appeared to criticise Theresa May, her predecessor as home secretary, after she questioned the behaviour of the Home Office.
The Prime Minister was in charge of the Home Office in 2012 when key protections for the Windrush generation – named after the first ship, Empire Windrush, that brought migrants to Britain from Jamaica in 1948 – were removed. Some have since been told they may have to leave, despite having spent the majority of their lives in Britain.
Yesterday Mrs May was forced into an about-turn, hours into the Com- monwealth summit, after previously saying she would not discuss the Windrush cases with heads of the assembled governments. She will now hold talks this week, as leaders prepare to decide whether the Queen should be replaced by the Prince of Wales as the head of the organisation.
Ms Rudd was forced to apologise in the Commons, admitting some of the treatment of the Windrush generation had been “appalling” and denying anyone would be forced to leave.
She announced a task force to help people prove their right to stay, hours after Caroline Nokes, her ministerial colleague, appeared to confirm some had already been sent back to their birth nations. Ms Rudd said she was “not aware” of any deportations but appealed to journalists and campaigners to come forward with evidence of forced removals if they had any.
In an embarrassing day for the Home Office, Ms Rudd agreed with critics who said the Government should look again at the way it treated immigrants, amid claims that ministers were too focused on cutting numbers coming to the UK. She said her department had “become too concerned with policy and strategy, and sometimes loses sight of the individual”. Ms Rudd apologised to the Windrush migrants, stating: “Frankly, some of the ways they have been treated has been wrong, has been appalling and I am sorry.”
Members of the Cabinet including Penny Mordaunt and Sajid Javid earlier
openly criticised Home Office actions. Meanwhile, Lord Boateng, the Labour peer, told the House of Lords: “These were children. They did not come here of their own volition. They came here because their parents were here.”
David Lammy, the Labour MP, said it was “inhumane and cruel” for so many in the Windrush generation “to have suffered so long in this condition”.
There was also criticism from Caribbean nations.
The High Commission for St Vincent and the Grenadines labelled the Home Office’s actions “shameful efforts”.
Guy Hewitt, the Barbados high commissioner, told the BBC: “Because they came from colonies which were not independent, they thought they were British subjects.”
Under the 1971 Immigration Act, enacted in 1973, all Commonwealth citizens living in the UK were given indefinite leave to remain. However, the Home Office did not keep a record of those granted leave to remain or issue paperwork confirming it, meaning it is difficult for the individuals to now prove they are in the UK legally.
Changes which took place under Mrs May in 2012, designed to curb immigration and remove illegal migrants, further complicated matters by requiring landlords, employers and the NHS to confirm anyone who was not born in the UK had the right to stay. The Home Office claimed the changes would not affect the Windrush generation.
However, many are older or the children of people who have since died and have struggled to prove their right to remain. This has led to some being sent to deportation centres and only saved from forced removal by campaigners.
Chai Patel, legal policy director with the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, said: “Theresa May made all of us into border guards. The modern UK is an immigration enforcement state where landlords, doctors, nurses, police, even the Department of Education all work with the Home Office to target migrants.”
He added that the system being put in place for EU citizens wanting to make Britain their home was much more flexible than the one currently being used to determine whether the Windrush generation could stay in the UK. It will mean that EU citizens not currently living in the UK but who move here on the day before Brexit will find it easier to stay than members of the Windrush generation who have been in the UK for 50 years or more.
It came as a Home Office manual for deported Jamaican nationals emerged, including advice to prevent suicidal thoughts and a section telling people to “act Jamaican” in order to fit in. A Home Office spokesman said the manual had since been updated and was not sent to Windrush migrants, only people found to be in the UK illegally.
Yesterday, a spokesman for the Prime Minister said the UK supported the Prince of Wales for the role as head of the Commonwealth, adding: “He has been a proud supporter of the Commonwealth for more than four decades and has spoken passionately about the organisation’s unique diversity.”