Legal clinics for those who think they may be affected by the Windrush migration scandal will be held throughout May at the Black Cultural Archives in south London.
They will follow a public meeting in solidarity with the Windrush generation due to take place on Saturday afternoon at the BCA, which is located on Windrush Square in Brixton.
“We are inviting all those who are concerned about the Windrush fiasco, worried about being affected or have concerns about their documentation either for rights to remain and safeguarding to our public meeting,” the organisation said on its website.
Speakers at the meeting include Peter Herbert, the chair of the Society of Black Lawyers, and Dawn Hill, the chair of Black Cultural Archives and other lawyers. On Saturday, Herbert tweeted:
The deliberate, racist policies of deporting all Commonwealth citizens & their children of the Windrush generation was no accident. Both Theresa May & Amber Rudd knew what the impact was. Deport the Tories in the May local elections https://t.co/GZYN3kPJw9
— D Peter Herbert OBE (@herbert_donald) April 28, 2018
The scandal of the treatment of Britain’s Windrush migrants has shone a light on the government’s hostile environment immigration policies in recent weeks. Many have been left homeless, destitute and denied benefits and healthcare because they unable to prove definitively that they are British citizens.
The Guardian has uncovered many individual cases, but MPs have told of many more examples turning up in their casework. The Home Office has provided a freephone number for help in finding the evidence to support a claim and getting “no time limit” permits, but fear of the immigration authorities is still widespread.
“Clinics will be held at BCA as a central point of contact for the community and safe space to ask critical questions and make enquires,” a Facebook event post for Saturday’s meeting said.
A march in protest at the treatment of Windrush migrants from Parliament Square to the Home Office is also planned on Saturday.
