At the heart of the Windrush scandal is the fact that many elderly people of Caribbean backgrounds have been treated like illegal immigrants. Crucially, the Windrush generation are not in the UK illegally, but came here legitimately before 1973.

In recent years, however, many members of the Windrush generation have faced questions about whether they are genuinely entitled to live in the UK. This is largely due to the infamous “hostile environment” to illegal immigration introduced by May when she was home secretary. Some Windrush citizens have lost jobs and homes, while others have been denied access to healthcare, detained in immigration centres and threatened with deportation (read on for more about the history of the Windrush generation).

Since the scandal broke, the government has been at pains to emphasise that it does not consider the Windrush generation to be here illegally – despite how it has handled many of their cases until very recently. On 16 April, Rudd announced she was setting up a dedicated taskforce to help individuals confirm their right to remain.

Many MPs have raised concerns that immigration officials may have treated members of the Windrush generation more harshly because of government targets for the removal of illegal immigrants.

Asked how the targets could have affected Windrush citizens, Diane Abbott said: “Immigration officials may have been looking for soft targets in the shape of West Indian pensioners who don’t have hot-shot lawyers.”

Everything you need to know about the Windrush scandal