On immigration, the distinction between citizen and non-citizen is far more blurred than the politicians in charge recognise
The verdict of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), that the Home Office broke the law when it introduced the hostile environment policy, is confirmation that Windrush was a scandal twice over. Its human cost can be counted in the number of lives ruined, of the scores of British citizens, mostly of Caribbean heritage, who were forced into destitution, denied healthcare or deported because they could not prove their right to live in the UK. But the EHRC, which found that officials failed to properly assess whether the set of harsh immigration policies drawn up in 2012 would be racially discriminatory, adds to the picture of a bureaucracy that either did not know or did not care that it was breaking the law.
As the EHRC’s report found, decisions in the Home Office were driven by a “narrow focus on delivering the political commitment of reducing immigration, and a culture where equality was not seen as important”. Not only did officials fail to comply with equality legislation, but they repeatedly ignored the warnings of campaigners, such as the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, that their policies would end up discriminating against people who had the right to live in the UK.
