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Paulette Wilson had lived in England since she was a child, and in 2017 the Home Office drove her to Heathrow to deport her. This book is about how that happened to her and to thousands of people like her. It starts with empire and the promise that people in the Caribbean were British, follows the famous ship and the families who came after it, and untangles the laws of 1962 to 1981 that left many settled people with every right to stay and nothing on paper to show it.
Then come the hostile environment, the months of reporting before anyone in power paid attention, a Home Secretary's resignation, and the long fight over documents, compensation and apology that was still going on in 2026. You don't need to know any immigration law to follow it, and it's careful to separate what the official reports found from what's still argued over.
Paulette Wilson had lived in England since she was a child, and in 2017 the Home Office drove her to Heathrow to deport her. This book is about how that happened to her and to thousands of people like her. It starts with empire and the promise that people in the Caribbean were British, follows the famous ship and the families who came after it, and untangles the laws of 1962 to 1981 that left many settled people with every right to stay and nothing on paper to show it.
Then come the hostile environment, the months of reporting before anyone in power paid attention, a Home Secretary's resignation, and the long fight over documents, compensation and apology that was still going on in 2026. You don't need to know any immigration law to follow it, and it's careful to separate what the official reports found from what's still argued over.