Home Office admits hostile environment policies ‘disproportionately’ affect Black and Asian people

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Measures under the Home Office’s hostile environment policy “may disproportionately impact on people of colour”, a review has found. Recommended The Windrush victim fighting for compensation after not being able to work or claim benefits for 34 years The assessment, published on Thursday by the Home Office, stated: “It would initially appear that data indicates migrants impacted by the compliant environment are more likely to be from one of a select number of nationalities rather than a wide-range, and may also be more likely to be of South-East Asian or Black ethnicity.” It added: “We note that of the top five nationalities impacted, most are identifiable as being from/of brown or Black heritage and all five are visibly not white. The Home Office’s equality impact assessment comes after the current Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, was criticised last month for a decision to “backslide” on reforms designed to prevent another Windrush scandal. Bishop Derek Webley, co-chair of the Windrush working group, described the publication of the assessment as “an important part of the Home Office’s work in response to the Windrush Lesson Learned review”.