Barbados TODAY Journalist Explores 'Little Barbados' in Reading, England: A Look at Historic Twinnings and Community Connections

Although a compensation scheme was developed, only a few victims have benefited from the programme as several of them died before they could receive a settlement.

Having a legal ‘right to remain’ in the UK, many did not seek the immigration documentation usually required.

In 2012, the UK introduced the Hostile Environment Policy, a series of legislative and administrative measures to make it extremely difficult for presumed undocumented immigrants to live in Britain.

Under the policy, employers, landlords, healthcare workers and public servants had to check immigration status before offering jobs, housing, medical treatment and other benefits.

But by 2018, news reports emerged that the Home Office did not keep proper records of those granted leave to remain and did not issue the paperwork needed to confirm their status.

Parris recalls what it was like seeing people deprived of their rights.

“When Guy Hewitt was the Commissioner to Barbados in the UK, one of the first discussions was about Windrush after the story broke. He came to us as an organisation and we had one of those first discussions here in Reading. I was the chair of the national association at that time, and since then I went on to speak about it on BBC South. I was also on a few Oxford radio shows and gave a few statements about Windrush and how it had impacted people.

“I remember people, who went on holiday and then came back, were not let back into the country by the Immigration Department because all of a sudden their passport didn’t

have the right stamp to say that they could reside here indefinitely.

“All of a sudden people no longer had a job because they couldn’t prove that they were here legally. So all the time people were being asked to prove that they were here legally, like you had to produce records from school, you had to produce the papers that you came over here with your passport and immigration documents and things like that. Because they could not prove that, they were then denied access to homes, to pensions, different things like that. It was challenging and soul-breaking for the people who are affected. In some cases, people were put into camps and detention centres.”

While Parris did not meet anyone who was later detained, she says she helped a schoolmate acquire their documents.

“The King’s Counsel who helped put together the compensation package used to come and give talks to us about what was happening because you had to encourage people to not give up. And at the end, the government had to back down because in less than two weeks, the whole diaspora, not just Barbadians, came together and got over 100 000 signatures [for an appeal document], which then forced the whole Windrush debacle to be discussed in British Parliament. They had to put it on the table, whereas before they were resisting talking about it.”

That fight is still ongoing and there is legal aid provided for people still being affected by the policy.