Campaigners advocating for the Windrush victims are urging the incoming government to grant citizenship to all individuals affected by the immigration crisis within the initial 100 days following the election.
Groups such as Action for Race Equality (ARE) have cautioned that the current system for compensation and documentation is cumbersome and urgently requires reformation.
The Windrush scandal pertains to migrants from the Caribbean who arrived in 1948 to aid in the reconstruction of Britain post World War II.
While originally granted indefinite right to reside and work in the UK, many were later misclassified as illegal immigrants.
Numerous individuals who arrived from the Caribbean on HMT Empire Windrush lost their UK employment and residences. Pic: AP
Following the scandal, a Windrush Scheme for Documentation was established in 2018 to enable affected individuals to recover their papers and prove their entitlement to citizenship.
The Home Office approximates that over 16,800 individuals have been furnished with their documents under the scheme.
Nonetheless, ARE reports that one-third of those who have obtained documents hail from EU nations and argues that over 57,000 people affected by the Windrush crisis could still qualify.
The organization has also censured the Windrush Compensation Scheme, which the Home Office states has disbursed £85.86m across 2,382 claims, as of March.
Jeremy Crook OBE, CEO of ARE, opines that nearly 4,000 claims were turned down, likely due to the highly bureaucratic and burdensome nature of the 44-page application.
“Our agenda requests for the implementation of legal assistance by the upcoming administration,” Mr. Crook expresses.
Jeremy Crook OBE, chief executive, Action for Race Equality
‘Feeling Pursued’
Shane Smith, aged 44, was born in Trinidad and Tobago but was brought to the UK by his British mother at the age of four months.
In his early thirties, while at work, he was informed that he did not possess the right to stay in the sole place he considered home.
“I was summoned to the office, and they informed me about my immigration predicament,” Mr. Smith recounted.
“I responded, ‘Can’t you discern my accent? I’m a Liverpudlian!’ That’s when everything fell apart.”
He lost his job due to the scandal and spent years attaining the necessary documents to secure the citizenship he was already eligible for.
As a consequence of job uncertainties, Mr. Smith became homeless and even now continues to grapple with mental health challenges.
“I felt isolated, incapable of providing for my family anymore… I’m ashamed, because I have always been proud, and prior to this, I considered myself very resilient,” Mr. Smith expressed.
“I still feel like they are after me.”
Although he might be eligible for compensation, Mr. Smith has refrained from applying to the scheme, believing that the process fails to acknowledge the intricate lives influenced by the crisis.
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“I have to sift through an extensive dossier and provide all this evidence, when a significant portion of the time, I was homeless,” he lamented.
Upon receiving the compensation guide, he found himself unable to confront the paperwork.
“I just discarded it.”
Additionally, Mr. Smith indicates that even if he musters the emotional strength to complete the paperwork, he remains uncertain about accepting the money based on principles.
“Accepting it would be akin to condoning what was done to me and signaling that it is acceptable to treat others in a similar manner,” he stated.
This “absence of trust” in the government’s aptitude to rectify the injustices of the scandal has spurred ARE to call for the establishment of a Windrush covenant for mental health by the incoming government.
