Jamaican Windrush Scandal Victim Returns Home After 53 Years

A victim of the infamous Windrush Scandal, Anthony Bryan, 61, returns home for the first time in over half a century to see his 90-year-old mother.

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A Londoner, Bryan was one of the thousands who migrated to the UK to assist in the reconstruction of post-war Britain between 1948 and 1971 and were later labeled illegal immigrants years after their arrival.

Born in Jamaica, the painter and decorator left his Caribbean home in 1965 at the age of eight. In 2015, when he heard his mother’s health was failing, he was faced with the reality of the “hostile environment” policies targeting Caribbean immigrants and threatened with deportation.

“I couldn’t leave because I knew if I left I would have problems coming back. I was told my people had got stuck out here,” Bryan said, who was detained twice in an immigration removal center.

“You go out for a funeral or a wedding or things like that and you couldn’t come back into England.

“I wanted to visit my mum, that was when she first came down not feeling good so imagine if she fell ill and dropped out before I came over. It’s fortunate she’s lasted until now,” said Bryan, who finally arrived home just days before the 70th anniversary of the beginning of the Windrush Generation.

People who had arrived in the United Kingdom before 1973 were automatically granted indefinite leave to remain but the Home Office did not keep a record of those allowed to stay or any documentation confirming their status.

As a result, some Caribbean immigrants have been threatened with deportation, lost their jobs or been denied medical treatment since changes to the immigration rules came into effect in 2014.

According to figures disclosed by United Kingdom (UK) immigration state minister, Caroline Nokes, about 1,000 people, suspected to be undocumented immigrants, were deported to the Caribbean, one year before the Windrush scandal broke.

The administration has since issued a taskforce and helpline to address the over 13,000 calls and 5,000 possible Windrush cases. An added group compensation scheme has been constructed for the victims and their families by teams of lawyers working on the case.