British home secretary Sajid Javid has issued an apology to 18 members of the Windrush generation after a review found they may have been wrongly detained or removed from the country.
“I would like to personally apologise to those identified in our review and am committed to providing them with the support and compensation they deserve,” Mr Javid said.
The minister said a review of 11,800 cases of removal and detention had found 11 of the 18 people the apology was addressed to had voluntarily left the UK and seven were detained but later released.
The Home Office said any of the 18 who were not currently living in the UK had the right to return with support from the government’s Windrush taskforce.
Fourteen of their number have been contacted by the government so far; the department says it is trying to reach the remaining four.
In Tuesday’s apology, Mr Javid said: “The experiences faced by some members of the Windrush generation are completely unacceptable and I am committed to righting the wrongs of the past.
He also confirmed he has asked an independent adviser to look into what went wrong in the government’s handling of the Windrush generation’s immigration status.
The UK’s Conservative government was shamed by numerous media reports detailing the plight of individual members of the Windrush generation and their families, who had lost jobs, been denied access to healthcare, been forced to leave the UK or were detained by the Home Office.
Many blamed the government’s hostile environment policy and destruction of landing cards between 2009 and 2010 for exacerbating the problem.
Are you a member of the #WindrushGeneration? Help us design the #Windrush compensation scheme by taking part in our consultation: https://t.co/KpLfJB98IJ pic.twitter.com/HQr88mnX5w
— Home Office (@ukhomeoffice) July 19, 2018
The Windrush generation, so-called after the ship Empire Windrush, are a group of people who migrated to the UK from the Caribbean between 1948 and 1971 to fill an employment shortage.
The 1971 Immigration Act gave these people, and other emigrants from the Commonwealth, indefinite leave to remain in the UK. However, individual records were not created for each person, making it difficult to prove their right to be in the country today.
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Read more:
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[ British home secretary resigns over migrant removal target claims ]
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Mr Javid’s predecessor Amber Rudd resigned in the wake of the Windrush scandal. On taking up the role of home secretary, Mr Javid said his “most urgent task” was to fix the crisis and ensure those affected by it were treated with respect.
This is a drop in the ocean & just spin until we know full numbers deported, detained & those hounded out of their home country by the home office. Apology is crocodile tears & an insult to people still not given hardship fund, left jobless, homeless & unable to afford food. https://t.co/656WItOxa3
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) August 21, 2018
Labour Party MP David Lammy, whose parents came to the UK as part of the Windrush generation, called the apology “crocodile tears and an insult to people still not given hardship fund, left jobless, homeless and unable to afford food”.
