Lawyers and campaigners in the United Kingdom have expressed concern about a large backlog of unresolved Windrush cases, revealed in new Home Office figures, two years after Amber Rudd resigned as Home Secretary amid the emerging scandal.
More than 12,000 people, including Jamaicans, who were wrongly classified by the Home Office as illegal immigrants, have now been given citizenship or some other form of documentation proving that they have the right to live in the UK, but housands of cases are yet to be settled.
According to Britain's Guardian newspaper, there are 3,720 outstanding cases with the Windrush Taskforce, the body set up to consider applications from people who believe they were wrongly categorised as immigration offenders.
Those decisions triggered often catastrophic problems for the individuals' access to employment, healthcare, housing and pensions. In extreme cases some of those affected were detained and deported.
The current Home Secretary, Priti Patel, revealed that 1,111 of these cases have yet to be considered, while the others are still under review.
More than 150 people have been waiting for longer than six months, and 35 people have spent more than a year waiting for a response.
The Guardian newspaper says the large number refused under the scheme has triggered concerns.
Almost 14,000 people have been refused requests for citizenship or documentation proving their right to live in the UK.
Of that number, 11,332 had applied from overseas.
The Home Office said the free application process had attracted a number of claims which were without merit or were ineligible.
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