UK PM sorry for treatment of Caribbean immigrants

Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday personally apologized to Caribbean leaders after her government threatened to deport people who emigrated to Britain in the 1950s and 1960s.

At a meeting in Downing Street, May told representatives of the 12 Caribbean members of the Commonwealth that she took the treatment of the so-called Windrush generation “very seriously.”

“I want to apologize to you today. Because we are genuinely sorry for any anxiety that has been caused,” she told the hastily convened gathering.

She added: “I want to dispel any impression that my government is in some sense clamping down on Commonwealth citizens, particularly those from the Caribbean.”

The government has prompted anger in Caribbean countries and at home for a clampdown on people who came to Britain between 1948, when the ship Windrush brought the first West Indian immigrants, and the 1970s.

They and their parents were invited to help rebuild Britain after World War II and – with many legally British, as they were born while their countries were still colonies – they were given indefinite leave to stay.

But those who failed to get their papers in order are now being treated as illegal, and at risk of deportation if they cannot provide evidence of every year they have been in Britain.

The row has coincided with a meeting of 53 Commonwealth heads of government in London this week.