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| Version 2 | Version 3 |
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| Amelia Gentleman on Windrush: 'I've felt like an immigration case worker' | Amelia Gentleman on Windrush: 'I've felt like an immigration case worker' |
| (2 months later) | |
| For the past six months, Amelia Gentleman has been investigating the Windrush scandal. Here she talks about what it has been like to report on the story. | For the past six months, Amelia Gentleman has been investigating the Windrush scandal. Here she talks about what it has been like to report on the story. |
| How did this story come about, and why did you start reporting it? | How did this story come about, and why did you start reporting it? |
| In October, I was contacted by a small refugee charity, the Refugee and Migrant Centre, in Wolverhampton. It was really worried because its client Paulette Wilson, 61, a former chef who had worked in the House of Commons, had been detained pending imminent deportation. The charity explained that Paulette had moved to the UK in 1968 when she was 10 and had never left. Because she had never applied for a British passport and had no papers proving she had a right to be in the UK, she was classified as an illegal immigrant. Luckily she was released before she was deported, but she had spent a week in detention, despite having done nothing wrong. I went to interview Paulette at her daughter’s flat – by this point she was homeless because she had lost access to benefits – and was astonished at the way she was being treated. Although her MP had intervened to get Paulette released, the Home Office was still telling her she was liable for deportation. She was devastated. | In October, I was contacted by a small refugee charity, the Refugee and Migrant Centre, in Wolverhampton. It was really worried because its client Paulette Wilson, 61, a former chef who had worked in the House of Commons, had been detained pending imminent deportation. The charity explained that Paulette had moved to the UK in 1968 when she was 10 and had never left. Because she had never applied for a British passport and had no papers proving she had a right to be in the UK, she was classified as an illegal immigrant. Luckily she was released before she was deported, but she had spent a week in detention, despite having done nothing wrong. I went to interview Paulette at her daughter’s flat – by this point she was homeless because she had lost access to benefits – and was astonished at the way she was being treated. Although her MP had intervened to get Paulette released, the Home Office was still telling her she was liable for deportation. She was devastated. |
| How did you find the rest of the Windrush-era children you have reported on? | How did you find the rest of the Windrush-era children you have reported on? |
| A day after we published that first piece, Sean Gordon telephoned to say his father, Anthony Bryan, was in the same position. I went to meet him the following day and could not believe how badly he had been treated. Since then, I have been contacted by more and more people, and time after time I have visited them at home and listened as they described how painful it was to be told they were here illegally after a lifetime spent paying taxes and contributing to Britain. | A day after we published that first piece, Sean Gordon telephoned to say his father, Anthony Bryan, was in the same position. I went to meet him the following day and could not believe how badly he had been treated. Since then, I have been contacted by more and more people, and time after time I have visited them at home and listened as they described how painful it was to be told they were here illegally after a lifetime spent paying taxes and contributing to Britain. |
| Was the scale of the scandal immediately obvious? | Was the scale of the scandal immediately obvious? |
| Not really. The immigration charities and MPs I spoke to were a bit at a loss. Because the fallout from newly hardened “hostile environment” policies was only just being felt, there was no clear understanding that this was a massive issue. Some MPs, such as Kate Osamor, were beginning to see lots of cases; others hadn’t heard of the problem. Mostly people assumed these were weird anomalies where something very specific had gone wrong. I realised how rapidly the problem was growing when the charity Praxis (a beneficiary of the Guardian’s annual charity appeal) said it was seeing more and more cases every year. | Not really. The immigration charities and MPs I spoke to were a bit at a loss. Because the fallout from newly hardened “hostile environment” policies was only just being felt, there was no clear understanding that this was a massive issue. Some MPs, such as Kate Osamor, were beginning to see lots of cases; others hadn’t heard of the problem. Mostly people assumed these were weird anomalies where something very specific had gone wrong. I realised how rapidly the problem was growing when the charity Praxis (a beneficiary of the Guardian’s annual charity appeal) said it was seeing more and more cases every year. |
| Who gave you advice at the Guardian? | Who gave you advice at the Guardian? |
| My former colleague the home affairs editor Alan Travis was incredibly helpful. He suggested I contact the Migration Observatory in Oxford to see if it had any idea about the figures – that’s when I began to realise what a massive problem this was. The observatory told me up to 57,000 people were potentially vulnerable because although they arrived from Commonwealth countries before 1971, they had never applied for a British passport or been naturalised. | My former colleague the home affairs editor Alan Travis was incredibly helpful. He suggested I contact the Migration Observatory in Oxford to see if it had any idea about the figures – that’s when I began to realise what a massive problem this was. The observatory told me up to 57,000 people were potentially vulnerable because although they arrived from Commonwealth countries before 1971, they had never applied for a British passport or been naturalised. |
| What support and encouragement were you given to pursue this story? | What support and encouragement were you given to pursue this story? |
| The team of news editors was really encouraging, and I was given unlimited time to write about this. There was an instant understanding that this was something we needed to pursue. We were really happy to be able to report the occasional bit of good news too. When officials finally recognised that Paulette had a right to be here, we put her picture on the front page. When I got details from an former Home Office worker about the decision in 2010 to destroy the Windrush landing cards, the head of national news, Owen Gibson, and I spent a long time discussing the potential significance of that revelation. | The team of news editors was really encouraging, and I was given unlimited time to write about this. There was an instant understanding that this was something we needed to pursue. We were really happy to be able to report the occasional bit of good news too. When officials finally recognised that Paulette had a right to be here, we put her picture on the front page. When I got details from an former Home Office worker about the decision in 2010 to destroy the Windrush landing cards, the head of national news, Owen Gibson, and I spent a long time discussing the potential significance of that revelation. |
| What has it been like working on this story and giving voice to these individuals? | What has it been like working on this story and giving voice to these individuals? |
| Sometimes over the past six months I’ve felt a bit like an immigration case worker – gathering people’s details, trawling through Home Office letters, contacting the Home Office to get them to comment on the problems they were having. It has been really exciting because almost every time I raised a case with them, the individual having problems would unexpectedly see their cases – which they had been struggling with for years – suddenly get expedited and approved. But when I wrote about Albert Thompson, I was sure that the Department of Health or the prime minister was going to be so upset or embarrassed by his problems that they would back down immediately and offer him help. At the time of writing, they still haven’t done that. | Sometimes over the past six months I’ve felt a bit like an immigration case worker – gathering people’s details, trawling through Home Office letters, contacting the Home Office to get them to comment on the problems they were having. It has been really exciting because almost every time I raised a case with them, the individual having problems would unexpectedly see their cases – which they had been struggling with for years – suddenly get expedited and approved. But when I wrote about Albert Thompson, I was sure that the Department of Health or the prime minister was going to be so upset or embarrassed by his problems that they would back down immediately and offer him help. At the time of writing, they still haven’t done that. |
| Why do you think it has taken so long for the government to act, and for politicians to voice their outrage? | Why do you think it has taken so long for the government to act, and for politicians to voice their outrage? |
| For a long time it was incredibly frustrating because the Guardian was publishing interviews I’d done with people whose lives had been ruined by this situation and no one in government seemed to care very much. It was only when the Barbados high commissioner revealed that Downing Street had rejected a formal request from all 12 Caribbean high commissioners to meet with Theresa May at the Commonwealth heads of government meeting that the story became huge. We put that on the front page, and then reported David Lammy’s outraged letter to the government signed by 140 cross-party MPs, and within 24 hours Amber Rudd was apologising for the “appalling” behaviour of her own department. The prime minister has apologised twice so far this week as a result of the Guardian’s Windrush reporting – it’s a positive outcome. | For a long time it was incredibly frustrating because the Guardian was publishing interviews I’d done with people whose lives had been ruined by this situation and no one in government seemed to care very much. It was only when the Barbados high commissioner revealed that Downing Street had rejected a formal request from all 12 Caribbean high commissioners to meet with Theresa May at the Commonwealth heads of government meeting that the story became huge. We put that on the front page, and then reported David Lammy’s outraged letter to the government signed by 140 cross-party MPs, and within 24 hours Amber Rudd was apologising for the “appalling” behaviour of her own department. The prime minister has apologised twice so far this week as a result of the Guardian’s Windrush reporting – it’s a positive outcome. |
| What has the public reaction been so far, including from Guardian readers? | What has the public reaction been so far, including from Guardian readers? |
| Our readers have been so generous. Yesterday I opened letters with a cheque for £20 and an offer to pay the full £1,200 naturalisation fee for one person I wrote about. | Our readers have been so generous. Yesterday I opened letters with a cheque for £20 and an offer to pay the full £1,200 naturalisation fee for one person I wrote about. |
| What will you be working on next? | What will you be working on next? |
| This story has further ramifications. Today my email inbox is jammed with Windrush people wanting to tell their story. But it’s wider than this group. We’ll be looking at the overall impact of the prime minister’s hostile environment policy next week. | This story has further ramifications. Today my email inbox is jammed with Windrush people wanting to tell their story. But it’s wider than this group. We’ll be looking at the overall impact of the prime minister’s hostile environment policy next week. |
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