British Home Secretary Resigned Over Deportation Targets

 

Photo from Ukrinform–UATV

 

British home secretary, Amber Rudd, has resigned, saying that she “inadverently misled” the parliament over deportation targets for removing illegal immigrants.

She called Prime Minister Theresa May on Sunday, April 29, to announce her decision. The head of the British government accepted the resignation.

The controversy began when it emerged that some migrants from Commonwealth countries, who were encouraged to settle in the Unied Kingdom, from the late 1940s to 1973, were being wrongly declared as illegal immigrants. Rudd was criticized for the government’s treatment of these people, known as the Windrush generation, and their relatives. People accused the government of its hostile policies designed to deter illegal immigration. In fact, many of those facing deportation had lived in Britain for several years.

Rudd told members of parliament earlier that she was unaware of any targets for removing illegal immigrants. However, The Guardian published a memo from June 2017, written by the director general of the Home Office’s Immigration Enforcement agency, copied to Rudd, that referred to targets. Many other officials, including the former immigration minister, as well as several senior civil servants and special advisers, were also sent the letter. The newspaper also published a letter from January 2017, where Rudd told May about plans to restructure her department and increase removals “over the next few years.”

Rudd decided to resign amid this leak that she was in fact aware and part of planning targets for removing illegal immigrants from the country. Rudd said last week at a meeting that there is no specific deportation program in the government. It turned out that such a plan existed and individual migrants were threatened with expulsion. The plan was in fact, approved by the government in 2012, when May was home secretary.

British media has dubbed the controversy as the “Windrush scandal.” After World War Two, Britain invited citizens of the Caribbean to work in the U.K, due to lack of labor force. The migrants were named after the Empire Windrush ship, which first brought families over to help rebuild post-war Britain.

The home secretary insisted she had not seen the leaked memo, “although it was copied to my office, as many documents are.” She said that she should be politically responsible for the actions of the ministry.

“I feel it is necessary to do so because I inadvertently misled the Home Affairs Select Committee over targets for removal of illegal immigrants during their questions on Windrush.,” Rudd said in a letter to the prime minister. “I should have been aware of this, and I take full responsibility for the fact that I was not.”

May has also responded to the resignation in a letter. “When you addressed the House of Commons and the Home Affairs Select Committee last week on the issue of illegal immigration, you answered the questions put to you in good faith. People who have entered the United Kingdom illegally or overstayed here should expect to face the full force of the law, and know that they will be removed if they will not leave this country voluntarily. Just as importantly, people who have come here legally and enriched the life of our country should not expect the state unreasonably to challenge their presence here; rather, it should help them prove their right to continue living here and contributing to the life of our nation,” May stated.

“When you spoke in the House of Commons, you said that you had not agreed specific removal targets, but that the Home Office’s Immigration Enforcement command had been using local targets for internal performance management. You also said that you were not aware that those operational targets had been set. I understand why, now that you have had chance to review the advice that you have received on this issue, you have made the decision you have made and taken responsibility for inadvertently misleading the Home Affairs Select Committee,” May continued.

Rudd’s departure risks upsetting the delicate balance in May’s cabinet over Brexit, with a showdown looming on Wednesday about Britain’s relationship with the customs union.