The Windrush Generation has been described as the people who arrived in the UK from the Caribbean between 1948 and 1971. It garnered its name from the ship MV Empire Windrush which was the first to carry workers over from Jamaica in 1948, landing at Tilbury Docks in June of that year. The recent issue regarding the Caribbean Windrush generations suffering of injustice and persecution in the hands of the British government during the era of hostile environment for immigrants who came from outside the European Union is unforgiveable and unacceptable. Theresa May was the Home Secretary then in 2010. The 1971 Immigration Act gave indefinite leave to remain to Commonwealth citizens already living in the UK, because freedom of movement within the Commonwealth was ending. However, the Home Office did not record the details of each individual - so it is hard now for those who didn't get documents at the time to prove now that they were here legally.
Through no fault of theirs these children who came to England in 1948 onwards at the invitation of the British government with their parents. The Windrush generation came to England to fill in the labour shortages Britain was facing after the second world war. They were deported and thrown on the scrap heap just because they did not have scrap of paper to show when they had arrived in England. They had never imagined the British government will abandon them in such a callous way after the immense contribution they had made to the economy of the country. It is really heart-breaking to see the ill treatment meted out to them and the hardships they had to undergo. These hard working people spent all the their life in England earning their living working in the NHS, railways, factories, mines, agriculture, and local governments. They raised their families here, suddenly they were declared to be illegal immigrants and deported back to the Caribbean without providing them with legal representation. Their cases were not properly investigated, nor their employment records checked, nor their payments of taxes and house ownership. Now at the 70th Anniversary Commonwealth in London both the Home Secretary Amber Rudd and Prime Minister Theresa May have apologised to the heads of the Caribbean governments for the injustice done to the Windrush generation. Apology is not enough in view of the cruelty, inhumanity, indignity and hostility suffered by these vulnerable people. They should be adequately compensated (not token compensation) and be brought back to England and given their rightful place with their families and friends.
Baldev Sharma
Rayners Lane, Harrow
