SAJID Javid has apologised to more than 130 people who were wrongly forced to provide DNA samples to prove they were entitled to settle in the UK as he was accused of overseeing a Home Office that was “out of control”.
Outlining how guidance was "unclear or wrong", the Home Secretary said in a Commons statement that more than 50 of those people were the children of Gurkhas from Nepal, who fought in the British military.
Those affected would be reimbursed, he said, as Mr Javid announced that he had set up a task force to investigate any further breaches and would also launch an independent review informed by Wendy Williams, who investigated the Windrush scandal.
The Secretary of State explained how 83 applicants were forced to give DNA as part of an operation investigating fraud and as many as 51 were relatives of Gurkhas.
"I am determined to get to the bottom of how and why, in some cases, people were compelled to provide DNA in the first place.
"Across our immigration system, no-one should face a demand to supply DNA evidence and no-one should have been penalised for not providing it," said Mr Javid.
Diane Abbott for Labour said the public, including those of immigrant descent, wanted to know that the immigration was robust and fair as witnessed by the response to the Windrush scandal.
“We now know from the Home Secretary’s statement that the mandatory provision of DNA was neither legal nor fair,” said Ms Abbott and asked what legal consequences would follow from that.
The Shadow Home Secretary added that people would be “shocked” to hear that among the first victims of “this abuse” were Gurkhas and Afghans, men and women who had put their lives at risk to keep Britain safe.
Patrick Grady for the SNP said people recognised that the use of DNA could be useful in the processing of immigration applications but it was clear that it had become “dangerously and unethically overused by the Home Office, making life unnecessarily difficult for applicants”.
The Glasgow North MP added: “It’s another example of the Home Office being out of control and a result of a migration target they are still completely obsessed with and more evidence that the hostile environment lives on.”
Labour’s Yvette Cooper, who chairs the Commons Home Affairs Committee, tweeted: “Home Sec statement on Home Office unlawfully requiring DNA tests is deeply troubling. Coming after #Windrush shows something going v wrong in Home Office again. New wider review must be independent & shd examine oversight failure & impact of policies on culture of HO operations.”
Signalling a potential softening of the controversial hostile environment approach, the Home Secretary said he would be reviewing the immigration system to ensure it was "fair and humane".
He told the House: "That review will need to build on the lessons learned from the Wendy Williams review and I will want her to play a full part in the exercise.
"I made it clear when I became Home Secretary that I would be prepared to take action to put right any wrongs as and when I became aware of them.
"I want to promise you all that I will get to the bottom of what has gone wrong in relation to DNA evidence and I will build an immigration system which provides control, but which is also fair, humane and fully compliant with the law," added Mr Javid.
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