Government ‘knew two years ago’ about Windrush deportations

THE HOME Office and Downing Street knew two years ago about concerns over Windrush migrants facing deportation, it was claimed last night.

The Government in Barbados raised concerns with the Foreign Office when Philip Hammond was in charge in April 2016 amid fears that some migrants were facing deportation to Caribbean countries despite having lived in the UK for most of their lives. It is not clear at what level the concerns were raised or whether Theresa May, the then Home Secretary or PM David Cameron were personally aware, but a report about the issues was passed to the Home Office, according to the BBC.

Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, revealed yesterday she had been aware of cases involving Windrush migrants, who came to the UK legally before 1973 but who have not previously been asked to prove their right to stay. But she said she had only realised recently that the problem was systemic.

Ms Rudd told the home affairs select committee yesterday: “I bitterly, deeply regret that I didn’t see it as more than individual cases that had gone wrong that needed addressing. I didn’t see it as a systemic issue until very recently.”

Ms Rudd revealed 1,300 people have called the special hotline set up to help the Windrush generation, following claims some had been asked to leave or threatened with deportation. Of those, 600 people have received a call back, 91 appointments have been made and 23 documents issued. A further 2,500 calls were related to non-windrush cases.

She also told MPS that 7,000 out of around 8,000 records dating back to 2002 had been checked, with no wrongful removals discovered so far, but that more work has to be done to determine how many people may have been detained. It has emerged that ministers in the Conservative Government had been made aware years ago about the problems. Labour MP David Lammy said he received a letter from Damian Green, the former immigration minister, in 2011 dismissing the case of one of his constituents from the Windrush generation stating his right to remain in the UK was “not clear”.

The case has not been resolved. Ms Rudd was also accused of setting targets for deporting illegal immigrants from the UK. She told the committee of MPS she was not aware of the targets, which union bosses claim have been handed to regional immigration centres as a way of raising the number of people removed.

Ms Rudd said she had asked for more removals of individuals with no right to be in the UK to take place, but was not familiar with suggestions that staff have to deport set numbers per year.

She also backed the so-called hostile environment policy, designed to make it more difficult for people without the right to live in the UK to rent or buy a home or use the NHS, despite calls for it to be scrapped.