Paulette Wilson, a 61-year-old grandmother who has lived in the UK since 1968, was detained and threatened with deportation to Jamaica, a country she left as a child and has never revisited. She spent a week at Yarl’s Wood detention centre last month and was transferred to Heathrow’s removal centre before a last-minute intervention by her MP and a local charity halted her forced removal.
Wilson arrived in Britain at age 10, attended school, raised her daughter, and worked for 34 years, including at the House of Commons restaurant. She has paid national insurance contributions and taxes, and recently volunteered at her church. Despite this, the Home Office categorised her as an illegal immigrant, leaving her distraught. “I felt like I didn’t exist,” she said, describing the detention as the worst experience of her life.
Her solicitor, Jim Wilson, argues she has a legal right to stay under the 1973 Immigration Act, which granted indefinite leave to remain for those settled before that date. The case highlights a broader issue where long-term Commonwealth migrants, who arrived when no formal documentation was required, are caught in the “hostile environment” policy introduced in 2012.
Similar cases are emerging, such as Eleanor Rogers, 71, from Sierra Leone, who faces deportation after 51 years in the UK. Migrant rights charities warn of a “virtually invisible” group unable to prove their legal status. Wilson must report to the Home Office again in December and remains anxious about further removal attempts.
