A woman of Caribbean descent is facing deportation despite living in the UK for most of her life and possessing a British birth certificate, The Independent reported on Monday.
READ MORE: UN Rapporteur: 'Hostile Environment’ Rooted in UK Immigration Policies
The issue regarding her right to remain in the UK began in 2013, when she was arrested while picking her daughter up from Gatwick airport and was subsequently taken to an interrogation center.
“I couldn’t believe that my father served this country and I was in this predicament with all this embarrassment,” Mrs. Vitalis told The Independent.
Although she was later released, “deportation proceedings” against her were set into motion by the Home Office, resulting in her dismissal from the NHS.
Following this, Mrs. Vitalis began gambling and engaged in illegal activity, and was charged with 14 counts of fraud, with a judge sentencing her to 28 months in prison.
“I know I did wrong. I did get into gambling. It was really getting out of hand. It got really, really bad. I didn’t object to my sentence or appeal it because I knew I had done something wrong. I served my time.”
Her two siblings aren’t facing the same predicament, as they were born in the UK, while she was born in Germany.
The Windrush scandal played a role in forcing Amber Rudd to resign as home secretary earlier this year, but critics have warned that even her replacement, Sajid Javid, is yet to entirely fix the issue.
Among the harshest critics of the UK government’s mistreatment of the Windrush generation is Labour MP David Lammy, who insisted that it’s time to “abolish the hostile environment, not simply pause it.”
The Windrush generation were invited to settle in the UK from the Caribbean in the aftermath of the Second World War, and played a significant role in the country’s reconstruction and recovery.
READ MORE: Protesters Picket UK Home Office Over Windrush Immigrant Scandal
