PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF HOME OFFICE IMMIGRATION POLICY AND PRACTICE (18 April 2018)

That this House notes the Home Office's long track record of delay, maladministration and poor quality decision-making while implementing increasingly harsh anti-immigrant policies; deplores the cruel and grossly unfair treatment of Commonwealth citizens legally resident in the UK, including denial of NHS health care, dismissal from employment, arbitrary detention under Immigration Act powers, threat of removal from the UK and destitution; believes that such mistreatment is a direct result of deliberate policies, and in particular the then Home Secretary's creation of a hostile environment under the Immigration Act 2014, which places an unreasonable onus on individuals to produce often long lost evidence of residence; deeply regrets the failure of the then Home Secretary to act upon policy recommendations set out in the October 2014 Legal Action Group report Chasing Status, which included establishing a specialist unit within the Home Office to deal with Windrush Generation cases; commends the work of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, Praxis Community Projects, the Refugee and Migrant Centre and others in supporting individuals stripped of their legal rights; welcomes the current Home Secretary's belated acknowledgement that the Home Office has become too concerned with policy and strategy and sometimes loses sight of the individual; and calls on the Government to establish an independent commission to review Home Office policies and practice, their impact on black and minority ethnic communities and how they might be reformed to improve fairness and efficiency.

Sponsored by:
Caroline Lucas (Green Party)