The Windrush scandal
30/4/18 13:52![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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talkpoliticsMPs accuse home secretary of protecting PM over Windrush
"Amber Rudd ‘deeply regrets’ failure to spot scale of problem of a generation of Britons being wrongly targeted by immigration authorities."
A 61 year old lady who arrived in Britain when she was 10, and now, half a century later, learning that she is an illegal migrant, therefore she will be arrested and extradited. A 60 year olf man who arrived in Britain aged 8 from Jamaica, and a century later learning that he is facing expulsion...
These are just a couple of stories out of many that have surfaced in recent weeks. We are talking about people of Caribbean origin who had moved to Britain in the 50s and 60s, and who never applied for British citizenship. Their status is of illegal immigrants, has always been.
British Home Secretary Amber Rudd confirmed that there are already people who have been forced back to their countries of origin, which is a wrong thing to do. Many others have suddenly found out that even with terminal illnesses like cancer, they are denied medical services. Others have lost their jobs and homes.
This has deeply shocked the Caribbean community in the UK. On the other hand, these developments are hardly a surprise, given how obsessed with migration many of the British politicians are right now, and how short-sighted they are to fail to see the benefits that Britain enjoys from the contribution of its former colonies.
The Caribbean settlers who came to Britain between 1948 and 1971 are called the Windrush Generation, after the ship that brought the first migrants from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and other islands. In June 1948, Essex welcomed the first half a thousand settlers from the Caribbean, many of them children. They were basically invited to Britain to help the post-war recovery. Since they came from countries that were British colonies at the time, the question of their legal status was not an issue at that moment.
In the early 70s when the migration influx ceased, those who had come to the UK from the colonies were granted a status that allowed for the indefinite postponement of their repatriation to their home countries. But the Home Office did not bother to issue the necessary documents, so now those affected cannot prove their status of legal residents.
The problem now arises from the long-lasting British policy of tightening the measures against migration. In 2012 Theresa May, still Home Secretary at the time, took a course for making the life of illegal migrants harder by creating a "migrant-unfriendly environment". In practice that meant requiring of the migrants to present a residence permit whenever they applied for a job or a place to live, using medical services, etc.
Now this has become a problem of bureaucratic negligence that affects thousands of lives. The British government has long preferred to pretend the problem does not exist. When the Windrush scandal gained momentum, the Home Secretary was forced to apologise for the unprecedented pain the affected people had to endure. She said the approach of the authorities had been "wrong and despicable, which I deeply regret".
The British Home Office created a group of 20 experts who are presently working on the task of stopping the practice of treating the Windrush generation as illegal migrants. The British government has to solve the problem quickly, and totally change its approach from now on. And apologies will not be enough - real actions will be needed.
"Amber Rudd ‘deeply regrets’ failure to spot scale of problem of a generation of Britons being wrongly targeted by immigration authorities."
A 61 year old lady who arrived in Britain when she was 10, and now, half a century later, learning that she is an illegal migrant, therefore she will be arrested and extradited. A 60 year olf man who arrived in Britain aged 8 from Jamaica, and a century later learning that he is facing expulsion...
These are just a couple of stories out of many that have surfaced in recent weeks. We are talking about people of Caribbean origin who had moved to Britain in the 50s and 60s, and who never applied for British citizenship. Their status is of illegal immigrants, has always been.
British Home Secretary Amber Rudd confirmed that there are already people who have been forced back to their countries of origin, which is a wrong thing to do. Many others have suddenly found out that even with terminal illnesses like cancer, they are denied medical services. Others have lost their jobs and homes.
This has deeply shocked the Caribbean community in the UK. On the other hand, these developments are hardly a surprise, given how obsessed with migration many of the British politicians are right now, and how short-sighted they are to fail to see the benefits that Britain enjoys from the contribution of its former colonies.
The Caribbean settlers who came to Britain between 1948 and 1971 are called the Windrush Generation, after the ship that brought the first migrants from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and other islands. In June 1948, Essex welcomed the first half a thousand settlers from the Caribbean, many of them children. They were basically invited to Britain to help the post-war recovery. Since they came from countries that were British colonies at the time, the question of their legal status was not an issue at that moment.
In the early 70s when the migration influx ceased, those who had come to the UK from the colonies were granted a status that allowed for the indefinite postponement of their repatriation to their home countries. But the Home Office did not bother to issue the necessary documents, so now those affected cannot prove their status of legal residents.
The problem now arises from the long-lasting British policy of tightening the measures against migration. In 2012 Theresa May, still Home Secretary at the time, took a course for making the life of illegal migrants harder by creating a "migrant-unfriendly environment". In practice that meant requiring of the migrants to present a residence permit whenever they applied for a job or a place to live, using medical services, etc.
Now this has become a problem of bureaucratic negligence that affects thousands of lives. The British government has long preferred to pretend the problem does not exist. When the Windrush scandal gained momentum, the Home Secretary was forced to apologise for the unprecedented pain the affected people had to endure. She said the approach of the authorities had been "wrong and despicable, which I deeply regret".
The British Home Office created a group of 20 experts who are presently working on the task of stopping the practice of treating the Windrush generation as illegal migrants. The British government has to solve the problem quickly, and totally change its approach from now on. And apologies will not be enough - real actions will be needed.
