Fury over shredding of Windrush files
THOUSANDS of Commonwealth citizens could be facing deportation because the Home Office destroyed their original UK landing cards, it was revealed yesterday.
A former Home Office employee claimed that a huge number of landing cards involving the “Windrush generation” were destroyed in 2010, in spite of advice not to do so.
The documentation dated back to the 1950s and 1960s and its destruction makes it hard for people who have been in Britain for decades to prove that they have a right to stay.
The revelation came as the Prime Minister apologised to leaders of 12 Caribbean countries for the treatment of the Windrush generation.
At talks in No10, Theresa May said she was “genuinely sorry” for the anxiety that had been caused and that she wanted to dispel the idea that the Government was seeking to clamp down on citizens from the region.
The Home Office whistle blower said that having an archive had meant these cases had been dealt with properly before.
The ex-employee said: “Sometimes the Passport Office would call up, and people would say: ‘I’ll look in the basement’.”
However, after the archive was destroyed staff had to say no record existed.
“Every week or two, someone would say: ‘I’ve got another one here’,” he said. “People were writing to say: ‘I’ve been here 45 years, I’ve never had a passport, I’ve never needed a passport. Now I’m being told I’m not British’.
“Because it was no longer possible to search in the archive of landing cards, people would be sent a standard letter that would state: ‘We have searched our records, we can find no trace of you in our files’.” In her meeting with Caribbean leaders, in London for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, Mrs May said the Government accepted those who arrived from the Caribbean before 1973 – when new rules came in – and who had been living in the UK without significant time away were entitled to remain, as were the “vast majority” who arrived subsequently.
“I want to dispel any impression that my Government is in some sense clamping down on Commonwealth citizens, particularly those from the Caribbean,” she said. “I take this issue very seriously. The Home Secretary apologised in the House of Commons yesterday.
“And I want to apologise to you today. Because we are genuinely sorry for any anxiety that has been caused.
“I don’t want anybody to be in any doubt about their right to remain here in the United Kingdom.”
Earlier, Cabinet Office minister David Lidington said officials were trawling through Home Office records to establish whether any of those affected had been wrongly deported.
Mr Lidington told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We don’t know of any cases where someone has been deported from this category.”
Labour MP David Lammy said he had been contacted by a woman who came to Britain as part of the Windrush generation and said her son was facing deportation today.
Mr Lammy said Ruth Williams, 75, had told him that her son Mozi Haynes, 35, was due to be removed from the country after two failed applications to remain.
“What is going on in the Home Office makes me ashamed of our great country,” Mr Lammy said.
However, the Government said that the case is not part of the Windrush generation and does not involve the threat of deportation.
‘We are genuinely sorry for any anxiety that has been caused’
IT IS all very well the Prime Minister apologising for the disgraceful Windrush immigration fiasco but saying sorry is not enough. It is entirely the fault of the Home Office that innocent people have suffered terribly, losing their livelihoods and even their driving licences through absolutely no fault of their own.
They have been denied healthcare, threatened with deportation. And while these people have paid their taxes and contributed greatly to the life of this country we have allowed who knows who to come into Britain, including Islamic State terrorists who want to blow us up.
This is a terrible wrong that must be put right and that includes compensating people whose lives have been destroyed. There is sometimes too much talk about financial recompense these days for trivial incidents but there is nothing trivial about the utterly shameful treatment of people.
This was a dreadful episode and must not be allowed to happen again.