The Home Office provided ‘no credible explanation’ as to why two children of the Windrush generation, Paulette Wilson and Anthony Bryan, were wrongfully locked up twice, depriving them of their human right to liberty.
This is according to the June 2018 report from the Joint Committee on Human Rights on the detention of Windrush generation.
The Committee recommends that:
- The Home Office should review its use of detention for immigration purposes to ensure it doesn’t use it unlawfully and that it is only using these powers where necessary and proportionate
- There should be a fundamental change in the law, culture and procedures to protect human rights in the work of the Home Office
- A more humane approach to dealing with people who come into contact with the immigration enforcement system is needed
- There should be more accountability when initiating or prolonging detention and stronger safeguards overall to prevent against wrongful detention
- There should be more opportunities to challenge wrongful detention and clear parameters to limit the use of detention
- Detention should only be used if the Secretary of State is satisfied that he has a power to detain
- The Government should act immediately to set up a hardship fund to help individuals from the Windrush generation facing financial hardship, as recently recommended by the Home Affairs Committee
The Committee intends to conduct a further inquiry into the UK’s immigration detention system in the Autumn, in which the Committee will consider concerns around the safeguards in the immigration detention system in the UK, including the UK’s lack of a set time limit to immigration detention, which is unusual.