UK Prime Minister Theresa May has unreservedly apologised to Caribbean leaders over the Windrush generation controversy, at meeting in Downing Street.
By Philippa Anamoah-
She said she was “genuinely sorry” about the anxiety caused by the Home Office threatening the children of Commonwealth citizens with deportation.
Ms May said the UK government “valued” the contribution they had made, and that they had a right to stay in the UK. The PM said she wanted to “dispel any impression that my government is in some sense clamping down on Commonwealth citizens, particularly those from the Caribbean who have built a life here”.
The current controversy had arisen due to post-Brexit policies, which introduced by Home Secretary Amber Rudd, designed to make sure only those with the right to remain in the UK could access the welfare system and the NHS.
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“This has resulted in some people, through no fault of their own, now needing to be able to provide evidence their immigration status,” she told the foreign ministers and leaders of 12 Commonwealth nations in Downing Street.
“And the overwhelming majority of the Windrush generation do have the documents that they need, but we are working hard to help those who do not.”
The PM added: “Those who arrived from the Caribbean before 1973 and lived here permanently without significant periods of time away in the last 30 years have the right to remain in the UK.
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“As do the vast majority of long-term residents who arrived later, and I don’t want anybody to be in any doubt about their right to remain here in the United Kingdom.”
Several immigrants who arrived from the Commonwealth decades ago, as children are now being incorrectly identified as illegal immigrants. One of those being affected is Paulette Wilson, who as a former cook in the House of Commons served food to MPs . Last October she was separated from her daughter and granddaughter and sent to an immigration removal centre. She was then taken to Heathrow to be deported back to Jamaica, which she had not seen for half a decade
Fortunately, her MP and a local charity managed to prevent her deportation last minute she has since received a biometric card. However, she will have to reapply for the ID in 2024 and she has yet to receive a personal apology from the Home Office.
TASKFORCE
The home secretary has announced a new task force and helpline to help those affected – and Mrs May promised cases would be resolved within two weeks of documentation being produced.
She made clear that those involved in the process of establishing their status should not be “left out of pocket” as a result, and would not have to pay for documentation.
But for those like Ms Wilson, have not been granted permanent security since residents permits can and will expire. Other individuals such as Anthony Byron a painter and decorator, who moved to the UK when he was eight had lost his job and was deemed as an ‘illegal worker’.
In an interview with the Guardian, he stated how he was detained in a Verne immigration detention centre for two weeks.
“They think that I am lying about everything. I told them I haven’t been to Jamaica since I was eight. They didn’t believe me. They don’t tell you why they are holding you and they don’t tell you why they let you out. You feel so depressed.”
Having struggled with reading all his life, Byron had spent more than £3,000 on legal bills and application fees whilst waiting to be issued a biometric card. This is a sad state of affairs. The government have made no comment on compensation for those who have been sorely affected.
Cabinet Office minister David Lidington claimed on Tuesday that the government was unaware of cases where British residents of the “Windrush generation” from the Caribbean had been deported because of their lack of documentation. But Home Office officials have been called to check their records again.
It appears that David Linington and Amber Rudd have more than a lot to “check” as after being interrogated by Tottenham MP David Lammy about the number of individuals who are being held in immigration detention centres.
In parliament Linington addressed Rudd yesterday, “It is her department that deported them. She should know the number. Can she tell us how many have been detained as prisoners in their own country?”
Rudd never gave a number because she didn’t know the number, nor the specific individuals who have been catastrophically affected by this policy. Lammy had informed parliament that Ruth Wulliams, the mother of 35-year-old Mozi Haynes’ had got in touch saying her son was due to be removed from the country after two failed applications to stay.
She said: “I feel betrayed and a second-class citizen in my own country. This makes me so sad and the Home Office must show some compassion.”
Dependent on her son as her carer and terrified of being alone Williams added:
“I am unwell and almost 75, I live on my own and I need my son to stay here. I need my family around me and I can’t face being alone. He has applied to the Home Office and been refused twice.”
APOLOGIES
Despite apologies issued, permanent residency statuses have not been responsively issued. These individuals appear to have to prove their civil rights rather than be granted them. It is the government’s job and responsibility to study each case carefully and provide the utmost care and attention to not only the individuals being affected but also the families and relatives who are living in fear of being separated permanently. Biometric cards and high-priced application fees shouldn’t be part of the solution; instead, they are part of a problem, which should continue to be addressed.
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