Paulette Wilson
Paulette Wilson (1956 – 23 July 2020) was a British immigrant rights activist. She fought her own deportation to Jamaica and brought media attention to the human rights violations of the Windrush scandal. Under the terms of the British Nationality Act 1948, Wilson had arrived in England as citizens of the British Empire.
In 2015, Wilson received notification from the government that she was an illegal immigrant and was required to leave the UK.[1][2] Her housing and health care benefits were stopped. She became homeless and was denied the right to seek work.[1][3]
By 2017, Wilson was facing deportation. She had not returned to Jamaica for 50 years, but was arrested twice,[4] detained in Yarl's Wood Detention Centre and then sent to the deportation centre at Heathrow Airport in October 2017.
The Refugee and Migrant Centre of Wolverhampton persuaded her MP, Emma Reynolds, to stop the deportation at the last minute to allow Wilson more time to appeal to the Home Office.[1][2] In 2018, she was officially granted leave to remain.
Wilson died on 23 July 2020 in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England at the age of 64.[5]