UK ministers told to ‘get a grip’ after flurry of accidental deportation letters
2 min read
The British government failed to adhere to its own guidelines when it sent out a number of deportation letters to European nationals living in the UK, a Home Office minister admitted.
Brandon Lewis has written to those who were sent incorrect letters to apologise and pledged to pay back all legal fees EU nationals who were wrongly threatened with deportation have already paid.
The Prime Minister called deportation letters sent to a Finnish academic living with her husband in London, “an unfortunate event”.
Dr Eva Johanna Holmberg was one of 100 EU nationals who received deportation letters when they had a legal right to stay in the UK.
Ministers had been urged to “get a grip” by Green MP Caroline Lucas, who joined the growing chorus of criticism against the Home Office for causing unnecessary distress.
“Mistakes like this are simply not acceptable and add further worry to the lives of EU nationals already anxious about their status here in the UK,” she said.
“These are people who are our neighbours and friends and family, yet the government is treating them with contempt as second-class citizens. The government is turning lives upside down by callously playing hardball over Brexit and creating a ‘hostile environment’ for migrants.
“Ministers need to get a grip, and make sure that an error like this never happens again.”
Mr Lewis confirmed that, between 11 and 16 August 2017, 106 letters were sent to people from EEA nations: the 28 EU member states, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
“The error made was an incorrect interpretation of the consequences of an EEA national’s unsuccessful application for a registration certificate.
“We have agreed to meet any reasonable associated costs incurred as a result of this error. We should be able to quantify the total cost in due course,” the Immigration Minister wrote.
Dr Holmberg, a visiting academic fellow from the University of Helsinki at Queen Mary University of London, told the Guardian: “It seems so surreal and absurd that I should be deported on the grounds that I’m not legal. I’ve been coming and going to this country for as long as I remember.
“I don’t know what kind of image they have of me but it’s clearly quite sinister based on the small amount of info they actually have on me.”
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