Proof that could have spared members of the Windrush generationfrom the threat of deportation was destroyed by the Home Office under Theresa May, it has been revealed.
Thousands of landing cards – recording dates of arrival in the UK – were thrown away, despite staff warnings that it would be harder for Caribbean-born residents to establish their right to be in the UK.
The files were discarded in October 2010, when the current prime minister was home secretary, a former Home Office employee revealed.
Labour MP David Lammy said the disclosure deepened the scandal of the treatment of the Windrush generation – just hours after Ms May gave a personal apology.
“This revelation from a whistleblower reveals that the problems being faced by the Windrush generation are not down to one-off bureaucratic errors, but as a direct result of systemic incompetence, callousness and cruelty within our immigration system,” he said.
“It is an absolute disgrace that the Home Office has destroyed these documents and then forced Windrush-generation migrants to try and prove their status, threatening them with deportation and stripping them of their rights.
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