Paulette Wilson moved to the UK in 1968, and worked and raised her daughter here. Recently she was suddenly taken to Yarl’s Wood detention centre and almost forced on to a plane to Jamaica. She was asked for papers to prove she had a right to be here, yet in 1968 it was quite legal for her to come here from Jamaica, in fact, we invited people from the West Indies to our country to do the jobs we wouldn't do. Now rules about immigration entry are being applied retrospectively and the UKBA feel vindicated about putting a woman in her 60s into prison for working here for 34 odd years?
"Paulette Wilson had been in Britain for 50 years when she received a letter informing her that she was an illegal immigrant and was going to be removed and sent back to Jamaica, the country she left when she was 10 and has never visited since.
"Last month, she spent a week at Yarl’s Wood detention centre before being sent to the immigration removal centre at Heathrow, where detainees are taken just before they are flown out of the country. It was only a last-minute intervention from her MP and a local charity that prevented a forced removal. She has since been allowed to return home, but will have to report again to the Home Office in early December and is still worried about the possibility of renewed attempts to remove her.
"The experience of being detained and threatened with deportation to a country she has no links with has been profoundly upsetting for Paulette, a grandmother and former cook, who has paid national insurance contributions for 34 years and can prove a long history of working and paying taxes in this country.
"Paulette, 61, arrived in the UK in 1968, went to primary and secondary school in Britain, raised her daughter, Natalie, here and has helped to bring up her granddaughter. For a while, she worked in the House of Commons restaurant overlooking the Thames, serving meals to MPs and parliamentary security staff. More recently, she has volunteered at her local church, making weekly meals for homeless people.
"She has been left furious and distraught by this sudden Home Office decision to categorise her as an illegal immigrant. The week of detention in Yarl’s Wood was the worst experience of her life."
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https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...ars-in-britain