Lefty
Well-known member
'Institutional racism'
“institutional ignorance and thoughtlessness towards the issue of race”
In a scathing report on the way British citizens were wrongly deported, dismissed from their jobs and deprived of services such as NHS care, the department is blamed for operating a “culture of disbelief and carelessness”.
The review following on the consequences of the Home Office’s “hostile environment” policy, says the scandal was “foreseeable and avoidable”. It says warning signs of problems caused by the immigration policy – such as “racially insensitive” billboards telling people to “go home or face arrest” – were ignored.
There was a tendency to blame individuals caught up in the immigration regulations, the report says. They found themselves criticised for failing to obtain evidence of their status, even though when they tried to do so they were not provided with the right documentation.
The report’s author, Wendy Williams, an inspector of constabulary, said at its launch: “The Windrush generation has been poorly served by this country, a country to which they contributed so much and in which they had every right to make their lives. The many stories of injustice and hardships are heartbreaking, with jobs lost, lives uprooted and untold damage done to so many individuals and families.”
Williams said she met about 800 people, and many of the interviews had been extremely upsetting. She said one man had been in tears when he told her how he had lost his job and his home “in tragic circumstances”. He told her: “I can’t believe I have been treated like this by my beloved England.”
Williams said: “There were a number of examples that were equally as upsetting. There was an overwhelming sense of bewilderment. They couldn’t understand how this had been allowed to happen.”
The 275-page report says the roots of the problem can be traced back to racially motivated legislation dating back to the 1960s, 70s and 80s.
The report notes that the Home Office does not have a large black and minority-ethnic workforce at senior level. “I think it is unfortunate that most of the policymakers were white and most of the people involved were black,” a senior official is quoted as saying in the report.
Some were wrongly deported to countries they had left as children half a century earlier, and others were mistakenly detained in immigration detention centres. Many were sacked by employers who were worried that they faced £20,000 fines for hiring people without the correct documentation. Some were then denied benefits, leaving them destitute. Many were made homeless, denied NHS treatment and prevented from travelling.
The scandal led to the resignation in April 2018 of the then home secretary Amber Rudd and put Theresa May’s drive to create a “really hostile environment for illegal migration” under the spotlight.
“institutional ignorance and thoughtlessness towards the issue of race”
In a scathing report on the way British citizens were wrongly deported, dismissed from their jobs and deprived of services such as NHS care, the department is blamed for operating a “culture of disbelief and carelessness”.
The review following on the consequences of the Home Office’s “hostile environment” policy, says the scandal was “foreseeable and avoidable”. It says warning signs of problems caused by the immigration policy – such as “racially insensitive” billboards telling people to “go home or face arrest” – were ignored.
There was a tendency to blame individuals caught up in the immigration regulations, the report says. They found themselves criticised for failing to obtain evidence of their status, even though when they tried to do so they were not provided with the right documentation.
The report’s author, Wendy Williams, an inspector of constabulary, said at its launch: “The Windrush generation has been poorly served by this country, a country to which they contributed so much and in which they had every right to make their lives. The many stories of injustice and hardships are heartbreaking, with jobs lost, lives uprooted and untold damage done to so many individuals and families.”
Williams said she met about 800 people, and many of the interviews had been extremely upsetting. She said one man had been in tears when he told her how he had lost his job and his home “in tragic circumstances”. He told her: “I can’t believe I have been treated like this by my beloved England.”
Williams said: “There were a number of examples that were equally as upsetting. There was an overwhelming sense of bewilderment. They couldn’t understand how this had been allowed to happen.”
The 275-page report says the roots of the problem can be traced back to racially motivated legislation dating back to the 1960s, 70s and 80s.
The report notes that the Home Office does not have a large black and minority-ethnic workforce at senior level. “I think it is unfortunate that most of the policymakers were white and most of the people involved were black,” a senior official is quoted as saying in the report.
Some were wrongly deported to countries they had left as children half a century earlier, and others were mistakenly detained in immigration detention centres. Many were sacked by employers who were worried that they faced £20,000 fines for hiring people without the correct documentation. Some were then denied benefits, leaving them destitute. Many were made homeless, denied NHS treatment and prevented from travelling.
The scandal led to the resignation in April 2018 of the then home secretary Amber Rudd and put Theresa May’s drive to create a “really hostile environment for illegal migration” under the spotlight.
