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Amber Rudd pledges action to resolve status of Windrush citizens Amber Rudd pledges action to resolve status of Windrush citizens
(about 3 hours later)
The UK home secretary has announced the creation of a new Home Office team dedicated to ensuring no more Windrush-era citizens will be classified as illegal immigrants, and acknowledged that the Home Office had become “too concerned with policy and strategy” over individuals. The British home secretary has delivered an unprecedented apology for the “appalling” actions of her own department towards Windrush-era citizens, acknowledging that the Home Office had “lost sight of individuals” and become “too concerned with policy”.
In a significant criticism of her own department, Amber Rudd said the Home Office had become too concerned with policy and strategy and sometimes lost sight of the individuals. “This is about individuals. We have seen the individual stories and some of them have been terrible.” In the face of mounting criticism, Amber Rudd announced the creation of a new Home Office team, staffed by 20 officials, dedicated to ensuring that Commonwealth-born long-term UK residents will no longer find themselves classified as illegal immigrants. She promised that cases would be resolved within two weeks and application fees would be waived.
The Home Office promised that fees to naturalise or apply for a biometric card, which can run into thousands of pounds, would be waived for people in this category. Rudd said there would be a team of about 20 people working on the issue in the Home Office. In a highly unusual acknowledgement that the government’s hostile immigration policy is having a catastrophic effects on individuals’ lives, Rudd said: “Frankly, how they have been treated has been wrong – has been appalling – and I am sorry. That is why I am setting up a new area in my Department to ensure that we have a completely new approach to how their situation is regularised.”
The announcement came after immigration minister Caroline Nokes indicated that some residents who answered the call to come to the UK to work in essential services in the 1950s and 60s had been deported in error back to countries they left as children for not having the right documents. She made a significant criticism of her own department, adding: “I am concerned that the Home Office has become too concerned with policy and strategy and sometimes loses sight of the individual. This is about individuals, and we have heard the individual stories, some of which have been terrible to hear.”
Rudd said action would be taken to rectify the situation for anyone who had been wrongly deported. She said she was not aware of anyone who had been deported and said the government was trying to establish this with the Caribbean heads of government. She said she was very sorry for the anxiety suffered by numerous people who arrived in the UK as children after newly-tightened immigration laws required them to prove that they were here legally.
She was repeatedly challenged over Theresa May’s “hostile” immigration environment, and asked if it was time to end the policy. The Tottenham MP David Lammy, who secured the urgent debate, said this was “a day of national shame”. The Guardian has been documenting a growing scandal over the past five months affecting an unknown number of people who arrived in the UK as children from the Caribbean as children (often on parents’ or siblings’ passports) but were never formally naturalised or hadn’t applied for a British passport.
“Can she [Rudd] tell the house how many have been detained as prisoners in their own country, how many have been denied access to health services, how many denied pensions and lost the jobs?” he asked. “It has come about because of a hostile environment policy that was begun under her prime minister.” Because newly-tightened immigration rules mean individuals are increasingly required to show documents proving a right to be in the UK before they can take up work, rent properties, access healthcare, or claim benefits, many have lost their jobs or been made homeless or refused urgent healthcare. Some have been sent to immigration removal centres or threatened with deportation.
Nokes told ITV News earlier: “There have been some horrendous situations which as a minister have appalled me.” Rudd’s colleague, immigration minister Caroline Nokes, earlier appeared to suggest that people had been deported in error back to countries they left as children for not having the right documents. Rudd said she was unable to confirm if this was the case, and had asked Caribbean diplomats if they were aware of mistaken deportations.
Asked how many people had been deported, Nokes said: “I don’t know the numbers. But what I’m determined to do going forward is say we will have no more of this. We want people to have confidence to come to the Home Office. We want to give them a message of reassurance, because I value these people.” Rudd’s announcement came after the prime minister was forced into an embarrassing U-turn over Downing Street’s refusal to schedule a meeting requested by 12 Caribbean heads of government to discuss the problem at a meeting of the Commonwealth heads of government (Chogm), which opened in London on Monday.
The prime minister will meet representatives of 12 Caribbean countries this week to discuss the immigration problems experienced by some British residents of the Windrush generation, in an apparent climbdown. The rebuffal was described as “most unfortunate” by the Barbados high commissioner, just before the meeting began. Within hours, Theresa May’s official spokesman announced that she had agreed to set up a meeting after all. He added that the prime minister “deeply values” the contribution the Windrush generation have made, but the outrage over the initial refusal overshadowed the opening of the conference.
Downing Street said the prime minister deeply valued the contribution of Commonwealth citizens who moved to the UK decades ago and stressed that nobody with a right to be in the country would be made to leave. The decision to back down on the refusal to schedule a Chogm meeting on the issue followed rising anger from politicians of all parties. Over 140 MPs from all parties sent a letter to May, expressing concern about the incorrect classification of many Commonwealth-born, long-term British as “illegal immigrants” and calling on her to find a “swift resolution of this growing crisis”.
No 10 had initially rejected a formal diplomatic request from the 12 countries, whose representatives are in London for the Commonwealth heads of government meeting (Chogm) this week, giving the impression that the May government was not taking a sufficiently serious approach to the problem. Communities secretary Sajid Javid said he was “deeply concerned” about the Windrush scandal, adding ”this should not happen to people who have been longstanding pillars of our community.”
Through the day there was growing outrage among politicians about the situation, which has affected an unknown number of people who arrived in the UK as children, but never formally naturalised or applied for a British passport. The government’s position appeared to shift. Rudd’s announcement came in response to an urgent question called by Labour’s David Lammy who said it was “inhumane and cruel” for so many in the Windrush generation “to have suffered so long in this condition”
Downing Street’s change of heart followed the publication of a letter sent to May and signed by more than 140 MPs from across the political spectrum. The letter expressed concern about the many long-term British residents who have been incorrectly identified as illegal immigrants. “This is a day of national shame and it has come about because of a hostile environment policy that was begun under her Prime Minister. Let us call it as it is. If you lay down with dogs, you get fleas, and that is what has happened with this far-right rhetoric in this country,” he said.
Sajid Javid, the communities secretary, tweeted on Monday: “I’m deeply concerned to hear about difficulties some of the Windrush generation are facing with their immigration status. This should not happen to people who have been longstanding pillars of our community. The government is looking into this urgently.” “Can she [Rudd] tell the House how many have been detained as prisoners in their own country? Can she tell us how many have been denied healthcare under the National Health Service, how many have been denied pensions and how many have lost their jobs?” he asked.
The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “She deeply values the contribution made by these and all Commonwealth citizens who have made a life in the UK and is making sure the home office is offering the correct solution for individual situations. Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott expressed scepticism about whether the new Home Office team would really resolve the problems faced by hundreds of people. “How much confidence can people have in the special team when people with lawyers have been unable to resolve their situations?” she asked.
“She is aware that many people are unlikely to have documents that are over 40 years old and is clear that no one with the right to be here will be made to leave.” She also called on the government to apologise to those people wrongfully detained. Neither Paulette Wilson, 61 nor Anthony Bryan, 60, who were both told they were illegal immigrants and detained in immigration removal centres – despite each having lived and worked in this country for over half a century – have had any apology from the Home Office for their treatment.
The spokesman said the Home Office would look at individual cases with “great sensitivity”, suggesting the department could provide extra support to help people navigate the system. Until now individuals have struggled to provide the evidence required by the Home Office to resolve their status problems – often unable to submit the recommended four pieces of documentary evidence for every year spent in the UK, not least because relatives have died, schools have shut down and records have been destroyed.
However, most people in this situation have not found the Home Office sensitive to their plight. Decades of National Insurance records have not been deemed sufficient proof, but Rudd said that would change, and Home Office staff would attempt to work with other departments to source paperwork.
“[May] is going to make sure that we’re offering the correct solution for individual situations. Each situation may well be different but we need to make sure that we have the support there to help people through the process,” the spokesman said. “”The team will be tasked with helping these applicants demonstrate they are entitled to live in the UK and will be tasked with resolving cases within two weeks of the evidence being provided. They will work across government to help these applicants prove they have been working and living in the UK,” she said.
When asked whether the prime minister would apologise over the issue, he said: “If there are ways we can make the process better then of course we will, if there are problems that people have been put through, that clearly would be a matter of regret.” Satbir Singh, CEO of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, welcomed the new team. “But that on its own is not enough: the Home Office must commit to a system which treats affected people with fairness, humanity and flexibility,” he added.
“In the past few days we’ve witnessed the culmination of years of government policy explicitly designed to turn us into a hostile society and which have made the Home Office into an island of inhumanity and incompetence. This is the first time that the government has been forced to account for these deliberate decisions. We hope it marks the start of a conversation about how we treat all those who seek to make a life here.”
Commonwealth immigrationCommonwealth immigration
Immigration and asylumImmigration and asylum
Theresa MayTheresa May
CaribbeanCaribbean
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