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Another Windrush scandal: Home Office perfects its Catch 22

Trevor Donald was stranded in Jamaica for nine years after a mistake - which they have acknowledged - by the Home Office, and now his citizenship application has been denied by the same Home Office: because he was out of the country for too long! Catch 22 lives on, and it's yet another disgrace. Clearly, despite claims that the Home Office's "very hostile environment" has been abandoned, it lives on.

Richard Carter ● 1856d7 Comments

It all started in 2012 when Theresa May, who was the Conservative Home Secretary at the time, introduced the Hostile Environment Policy saying that: "The aim is to create, here in Britain, a really hostile environment for illegal immigrants."After much criticism, led by some magnificent reporting by Amelia Gentleman in the Guardian, the Home Office commissioned an independent review of the policy, by Wendy Williams, an inspector of constabulary. The report, 'Windrush Lessons Learned Review' was released in March 2020, and was a scathing indictment of the Home Office's handling of Windrush individuals it  concluded that the Home Office showed an inexcusable "ignorance and thoughtlessness", and that what had happened had been "foreseeable and avoidable". It further found that immigration regulations were tightened "with complete disregard for the Windrush generation", and that officials had made irrational demands for multiple documents to establish residency rights.The Home Office, under Sajid Javid (who had replaced Amber Rudd as Home Secretary) announced what he claimed was fairer, the  "compliant environment" policy. But, as we've seen, it's a change of name only.Fuller details here:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Office_hostile_environment_policy

Richard Carter ● 1855d

Demand that people prove their right to be here.Destroy the document files which would help prove their right!Wrongly stop a man from returning to the UK for 9 years, then disallow his return because he was out of the country for too long!

David Ainsworth ● 1855d

Governments can amend acts when they want to as below illustrates.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Nationality_(Falkland_Islands)_Act_1983It is only when you look back at the various Nationality Acts that you realise this is not a new issue. Perhaps the Home Office are sticking to the letter of the law or people are travelling more that didn't in the past.The point is they should not have to rely on the flexibility the law should have been amended years ago!

Ed Robinson ● 1855d

They might check with certain newspaper editors but that's it.  They see no political mileage in softening - or indeed humanising - their approach.

Jonathan Callaway ● 1856d

I'd have thought that they could run their decisions past at least a PR department before sending them out.

David Ainsworth ● 1856d

Perhaps, but computer algorithms can inherit the culture and bias of those who design them ... perhaps the hostile environment in this case? Or perhaps the home office culture change is just an unimplemented statement?

Michael Ixer ● 1856d

"Computer says No".

David Ainsworth ● 1856d