Thread by @WindrushLives

🚨 Thread🧵 🚨
On Monday, @PHSOmbudsman published their report into UK Visas and Immigration’s (UKVI) and Immigration Enforcement’s handling of the case of Rupert Everett, providing more damning evidence of the impact of the hostile environment (HE) on Black Britons. [1/18]

You can read a summary of the complaint here: ombudsman.org.uk/publications/i…

And the full report here: ombudsman.org.uk/sites/default/… [2/18]

In short, Mr Everett had the right to be in the UK yet was told he had no status here, then threatened with deportation by Immigration Enforcement (acting through a private contractor, Capita) [3/18]

Mr Everett arrived in the UK from Jamaica as a 19-year-old in 1962, living here legally for over 50 years. However, after a trip to Jamaica in 2015, he started receiving threatening letters from Capita [4/18]

One letter from Immigration Enforcement included a threat of potential prosecution and imprisonment, and the chilling line that his ‘life in the UK will become increasingly difficult’ [5/18]

The deportation threat had a profound effect on Mr Everett, who ‘began to feel helpless and oppressed and became depressed’. This worsened when his driving licence was confiscated, reducing his freedom further. [6/18]

Mr Everett was able to find legal representation who helped compile the (heaps of) evidence he needed to overturn the removal order. This was eventually successful and his indefinite leave was accepted. [7/18]

Then, Mr Everett applied for citizenship under the Windrush scheme, only to be told he was ineligible by UKVI who asked for further evidence… Evidence he had ALREADY provided as part of the attempt to have his indefinite leave accepted 🤯 [8/18]

Honestly, we urge you to read page 8 of the report to see just how insane the hoops people are asked to go through to confirm their status (and remember Mr Everett had already provided all this proof). [9/18]

Devastatingly, Mr Everett passed away in May 2019, with the anxiety and depression caused by the HE hanging over his head, withdrawn from his family who were of course also profoundly affected.

https://twitter.com/nelsabbey/status/1402402602613096451?s=20

[10/18]

As ever, there is a lot of horridness to unpick in this story: the incompetence and procedural mistakes of UKVI and Immigration Enforcement; the involvement of private contractors like Capita;… [11/18]

…the fact the clear evidence in Mr Everett’s passport (an indefinite leave stamp) was ignored; the presumption of illegality (e.g., that the stamp was fake); and especially the depression and anxiety Mr Everett and his family suffered. [12/18]

If it all sounds depressingly familiar, that’s because it is. The incompetence, callousness, culture of disbelief, and structural racism is emblematic of the gov't agencies and their private enforcement stooges and their policies that make up the Hostile Environment. [13/18]

Need more evidence? (You know, beyond all that we’ve tweeted about from our account for the last year?) Here’s an article on a DIFFERENT report by the PHSO, which found shocking delays in the handling of a Windrush case: theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/o…. [14/18]

Here’s a clip with Martin Forde QC (the architect of the Windrush Compensation Scheme who is increasingly distancing himself from its implementation) discussing Mr Everett’s case: channel4.com/news/barrister… [15/18]

He notes the distrust of the Home Office and its satellite agencies and the fear of deportation that is preventing people who are eligible to have their status regularised and receive compensation for the ordeal they’ve been through from coming forward. [16/18]

We ask (yet again): how can an agency that breeds that level of mistrust handle a Compensation Scheme for the people that so mistrust it? [17/18]

All power to Rupert Everett who took this fight up with UKVI, and to his daughter for continuing that fight, but they should not have had to. Yet another reason to #BreakTheHE [18/18]