Advertisement

Sajid Javid apologises as it emerges 160 Windrush migrants were wrongly removed or detained

Jamaican migrants after disembarking from the Windrush at Tilbury docks in 1948 - PA
Jamaican migrants after disembarking from the Windrush at Tilbury docks in 1948 - PA

Sajid Javid has issued a formal apology after it emerged that as many as 164 Windrush migrants were wrongly removed from the UK or detained.

The Home Secretary apologised to 18 Windrush migrants who experienced the worst treatment, including 11 who were removed and seven who were detained. They will all be offered the opportunity to return to the UK or be directed to a compensation scheme.

The Government is now trying to contact a further 146 migrants who officials believe may have been wrongly removed or detained. In 74 of the cases the migrants have lost their right to stay in the UK indefinitely because they left the UK for two years or more.

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. 

"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.

"We must do everything we can to ensure that nothing like this happens again, which is why I have asked an independent adviser to look at what lessons we can learn from Windrush.”

About | The “Windrush generation”
About | The “Windrush generation”

Officials examined nearly 12,000 historical records and established that 11 people who came to the country from the Caribbean prior to 1973 and stayed permanently left the country voluntarily after being unable to establish continuous residence.

Ministers faced a furious backlash over the treatment of the Windrush generation - named after a ship that brought migrants to Britain from the Caribbean in 1948. Commonwealth citizens who arrived before 1973 were automatically granted indefinite leave to remain under the 1971 Immigration Act.

But some of those who arrived in the years after the Second World War have been challenged over their status. People who have been living legally in the UK for decades have lost their jobs, been denied access to NHS treatment, benefits and pensions, had their driving licences withdrawn and been warned they face deportation.