UK immigration minister Caroline Nokes has admitted that some Windrush immigrants were deported in error.
In a clip posted on Twitter by ITV journalist Paul Brand, Nokes is asked whether people have been deported as a result of not having the right papers.
The minister responds: "There have been some horrendous situations which as a minister have appalled me..."
Interviewer Penny Marshall then interrupts, saying: "That's a yes – do you know how many?"
Oakes adds: "I don't know the numbers. But what I'm determined to do going forward is to say we'll have no more of this – we want people to have confidence to come to the Home Office, we want to give them a message of reassurance because I value these people."
It comes amid concerns over problems faced by long-term British residents from the "Windrush generation" over their immigration status.
BREAKING: Immigration minister Caroline Nokes appears to admit to @itvnews @pennymitv that some Windrush immigrants have indeed been deported, but she can't give numbers. pic.twitter.com/9N5uyuzgKG
— Paul Brand (@PaulBrandITV) April 16, 2018
Channel 4's Cathy Newman also previewed an interview due to air tonight, saying Oakes made a similar admission to her. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon responded to the news on Twitter.
Immigration minister @carolinenokes apologises to #Windrush generation wrongly questioned over their right to stay in UK but tells me some have been deported in error. Watch full interview at 7 on @Channel4News
— Cathy Newman (@cathynewman) April 16, 2018
This is utterly appalling #Windrush https://t.co/nlZIs0JYRv
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) April 16, 2018
A cross-party group of 140 MPs has written to Prime Minister Theresa May calling for an "immediate and effective" response to problems affecting some immigrants who arrived from the Caribbean between the late 1940s and early 1970s, including being denied access to healthcare due to UK paperwork issues and anomalies.
International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt has said improvements need to be made in dealing with the concerns of the Windrush immigrants.
She said: "People who are in that situation, there is absolutely no question of their right to remain, and their right to gain access to services such as healthcare.
"What clearly needs to happen is we need to do a better job with the process that these individuals are having to go through.
"People should not be concerned about this – they have the right to stay and we should be reassuring them of that."
Mordaunt called for anyone with concerns to contact their MP for help.
The letter from MPs, co-ordinated by Labour MP David Lammy, has been backed by Jeremy Corbyn and Conservative MPs such as Sarah Wollaston.
Barbados high commissioner Guy Hewitt said: "I have held as a great honour the fact that I am the first London-born high commissioner for Barbados.
"This is the first time I have felt that the country of my birth is saying to people of my region 'you are no longer welcome'."
Labour has called a public meeting with affected members of the Windrush generation on April 19.
Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said: "The treatment of the 'Windrush generation' of migrants who came from the Caribbean is scandalous.
"Many came here as children, their parents invited to the UK to work. They have been here decades, worked and paid taxes, set down roots and created families of their own. This is their home.
"But the Government is treating them as illegal aliens. They are denied the free NHS care they are entitled to or even threatened with deportation. This must stop.
"I have called a meeting to demand the Government changes course and to discuss a way forward. It should be a simple humanitarian and decent thing to allow the small number of people involved their automatic rights."
Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said on Twitter: "I'm deeply concerned to hear about difficulties some of the Windrush generation are facing with their immigration status. This should not happen to people who have been longstanding pillars of our community. The government is looking into this urgently."
The PM's official spokesman said May was clear that "no-one with the right to be here will be made to leave".
Commonwealth secretary general Baroness Scotland said the issue of the Windrush generation was a "bilateral issue" for the UK Government.
The peer was born in Dominica in 1955, but later emigrated to the UK with her family and grew up in London.
She told a press conference at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in London: "I know this is a challenging week for everyone.
"So I think this is really an issue that has to be dealt with bilaterally by the UK Government and I'm sure they will do it."
Jeremy Corbyn said on Twitter: "It's disgraceful that the rights of the Windrush Generation have been brought into question by this Government and that some have been wrongfully deported.
"@theresa_may must give them the rights they deserve and answer serious questions about how this has happened on her watch."
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