WINDRUSH OUTRAGE
Agony of mother who says: Home Office betrayal killed my son
A GRIEVING mother last night blamed the Windrush scandal for the death of her son – who became ‘ very depressed’ as he fought to prove he was not an illegal immigrant.
Sentina Bristol said that her son, Dexter, had spent the last year of his life trying to untangle his immigration status with the Home Office.
She said that despite the fact he came to Britain from Grenada in 1968, he had been classified as an illegal immigrant, denied benefits and sacked from his job because he had no passport.
Dexter had apparently faced Home Office delays when trying to get records that could have proved he was in the country legally.
On March 31, Dexter collapsed in the street outside his home and died aged 57. Last night, Mrs Bristol claimed the stress had contributed to her son’s death and called on the Prime Minister to resign.
‘I think Theresa May should resign. I don’t enjoy saying that. This situation has to be amended,’ she said. ‘My son is British. We didn’t come here illegally.’
Tensions between Downing Street and the Home Office were evident yesterday as the PM’s official spokesman said Amber Rudd’s department failed to give enough help to the Windrush children – who are in the UK legally.
The spokesman said: ‘Clearly the Home Office should have provided more support.’ But he denied Mrs May was trying to dodge blame, saying: ‘I don’t think anyone is seeking to avoid their fair share of responsibility in this.’
The treatment of the Windrush generation – who arrived from the Commonwealth between the late 1940s and early 1970s to help rebuild post-war Britain – has exploded into a major scandal. Anyone who came before 1973 was given indefinite leave to remain, but many are having to prove that they have the right to live and work in the UK because of a Home Office immigration crackdown.
Mr Bristol is the first death to be linked to the Windrush scandal.
Last night it was revealed that Home Secretary Miss Rudd will be hauled before the Commons’ Home Affairs Select Committee next Wednesday to give evidence. As the crisis escalated again: Labour was in the dock after it was revealed the destruction of migrants’ landing cards was ordered in 2009 under Gordon Brown.
A report this year by a Parliamentary committee said people who were lawfully resident in the UK were wrongly embroiled in a crackdown on illegal migration.
The foreign minister for St Kitts and Nevis said the scandal had been known about for two years.
One Windrush child said he considered suicide after hearing the Home Office lost his papers.
The Prime Minister issued a second apology in the Commons.
The Home Office was unable to provide clarity on how many people were wrongly removed or refused entry back to Britain.
Mr Bristol moved here aged eight to join his mother, who was an NHS nurse. He spent the rest of his life in the UK but, like thousands of Windrush children, never got a passport and was never formally naturalised.
He had his benefits terminated in 2016 because he could not prove he was permitted to live here then lost his cleaning job last year as he had no documentation.
On March 31, he keeled over in the street outside his home in east London and could not be revived. Ahead of an upcoming inquest, the cause of death is unknown.
Mrs Bristol told the Guardian: ‘A child came to this country eight years old and spent 50 years... this is their home. Very unfair. I’m very, very angry and I’m grieving at the moment and frustrated.
‘Dexter was very depressed over this legal situation. He said if he doesn’t get his passport, they said they are going to cut off his benefit, he is going to lose his flat and he can’t afford to do that.’
Mr Bristol’s lawyer, Jacqueline McKenzie, said: ‘He would come into the office and say: “Will I ever get my passport?” We saw him get more and more depressed and anxious. He died being denied an immigration status which was rightfully his.’
A Home Office spokesman said Mr Bristol ‘made no applications to the Home Office and was not the subject of any removal action’.
Mr Bristol’s family say the reason he made no application was that he was struggling to gather all the necessary documents before paying the expensive fee.
In January, a report by the Commons’ Home Affairs Select Committee warned: ‘There are regular reports of people with a lawful right to be here being caught up in the system, often via errors in an
application process or problems with data retained by the Home Office.’ Mark Brantley, foreign minister for St Kitts and Nevis, claimed the controversy had been bubbling since 2016.
Yesterday Mrs May made a second apology and pledged to resolve the situation as quickly as possible. She said: ‘These people are British. They are part of us. I want to be absolutely clear that we have no intention of asking anyone to leave who has the right to remain here.
‘For those who have mistakenly received letters challenging them, I want to apologise to them and I want to say sorry to anyone who has been caused confusion and anxiety by this.’
So far 113 people have called a Home Office hotline set up to help Commonwealth citizens whose status has been challenged.