12 Apr 2018

The Windrush Generation: Fighting to be British

By Simon Israel

Since January, Channel 4 News has been reporting the plight of the Windrush kids. They came to UK as children, attended British schools, worked British jobs and built British lives. Now thousands of people who arrived in the UK decades ago – in the first wave of Commonwealth immigration in the 1950s and 60s – are living with the threat of deportation.

They came here as children, attended British schools, worked British jobs and built British lives. Now thousands of people who arrived in the UK decades ago – in the first wave of Commonwealth immigration in the 1950s and 60s – are living with the threat of deportation.

Known as the Windrush generation after the British ship ‘The Empire Windrush’, which travelled from the Caribbean to Tilbury Docks in Essex in 1948, many have made the UK their home for their entire lives.

Channel 4 News has been following the stories of a few of this generation as they fight for their right to be British – a nationality they had always taken for granted.

A new petition on the government’s website calling on the Home Office to grant them an amnesty has attracted more than 23,000 signatures. The Home Office said it would handle applications to stay “sensitively”.

Watch their moving stories below.

Home Secretary’s denials questioned after letter leak

29 April 2018

Windrush scandal in Jamaica: the effects across the generations

27 April 2018

The Windrush scandal continues: 20 years trying to get a passport

27 April 2018

Windrush Generation: The scandal that shook Britain explained and debated in a Channel 4 News Special

24 April 2018

How children and grandchildren of Windrush have been affected

24 April 2018

Britain leans on former colonies to alleviate NHS crisis amid Windrush scandal

24 April 2018

How we went from open arms for Commonwealth migrants to a “hostile environment.”

24 April 2018

FactCheck: who destroyed the Windrush landing cards?

By Georgina Lee

Both Labour and the Conservatives have blamed each other for destroying “landing cards” from the Windrush generation. But who’s really responsible? And would they have made made a difference to someone threatened with deportation?