//Following the crackdown on immigration started in 2012, they were told they needed to prove their right to continue to work, benefit from the NHS or even remain in the country.//
I thought that was what I said, naomi. If they couldn't prove it, out they went. And many couldn't, because - having arrived here by invitation and subsequently been given the right to stay indefinitely - they had no paperwork. Civil servants had
no say in the matter; border officials previously had discretion to decide someone was a legal migrant even if they didn't have the documents, but this was removed
https://tinyurl.com/y7buftx7
The hostile environment was May's stated policy, and civil servants were deliberately prevented from doing anything to alleviate it. The blame is hers.