Laser Mike

HOME OFFICE CALLED PAULETTE WILSON ILLEGAL AFTER 50 YEARS Paulette Wilson had to report to a Home Office centre every 2 weeks for 2 years. The Home Office had told her she was an illegal immigrant. She'd lived in Britain for nearly 50 years. She was one of the Windrush generation, people who came from the Caribbean as children in the 1950s and 60s and had every right to be here. Paulette had left Jamaica at 10, nearly 50 years earlier. For a few days she told nobody, because she was too scared to tell her daughter. From that month she had to report to a Home Office centre in Wolverhampton every 2 weeks. She kept going for 2 years. On 18 October 2017 the Home Office detained her at that centre. She spent 6 days in Yarl's Wood immigration removal centre, then was moved to Heathrow ahead of a flight to Jamaica. Her MP stepped in at the last minute. Paulette then went public with Amelia Gentleman at the Guardian. The Guardian reported that her decision encouraged dozens of others to come forward. She won leave to remain in January 2018. On 19 March 2020 an independent review by Wendy Williams found the scandal was foreseeable and avoidable. In June 2020 the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, committed to implementing all 30 of its recommendations. Paulette Wilson died on 23 July 2020, aged 64. A month earlier she had delivered a petition to Downing Street. On 7 December 2022 Suella Braverman, then Home Secretary, decided not to proceed with 3 of those recommendations. She told Parliament in January 2023 that she had considered officials' advice. In April 2024 Home Office lawyers told the High Court the recommendations were not legally binding. On 19 June 2024 Mrs Justice Heather Williams ruled that dropping 2 of them was unlawful. She found it indirectly discriminated against Windrush victims, and that nobody had consulted the Windrush community or Wendy Williams first. Trevor Donald, a Windrush victim, brought the case. Black Equity Organisation, which intervened, argued that institutional racism shaped the decision. The Home Office said it was carefully considering the judgment. In March 2026 David Hanson, Lord Hanson of Flint, answered for the Home Office in the Lords. He said it is in the final stages of reviewing all 30 recommendations. Almost 6 years after accepting them, the Home Office is nearly done reviewing them. What I want answered is what it has decided on the 2 recommendations the court found it was unlawful to drop. One was a Migrants' Commissioner to speak up for people affected by the immigration system. The other was a review of the powers of the chief inspector of borders and immigration. Paulette Wilson never saw the Home Office drop 3 of those recommendations.