Grenfell Tower: Mayor of London Sadiq Khan calls for illegal immigrant amnesty

No Grenfell Tower fire victims, including illegal immigrants, should be punished if they come forward to the authorities, Sadiq Khan said on Thursday 22 June. The Mayor of London backed an amnesty for the residents after at least 79 people died from the blaze in west London.

"There may be some people who are subletting, breaching their tenancy agreement," he told LBC Radio. "There may be people who have got friends and family visiting, who they are worried about if they report them because they haven't got immigration status.

"All of those people should feel confident that if they come forward and speak to the authorities that no action will be taken."

Speaking to The Independent, one anonymous local worker suggested that numerous undocumented migrants had "deliberately disappeared" following the blaze.

"There must have been a bunch of people in that building who probably escaped on the night and probably ran away from the situation. There has been speak from other residents of a whole load of Filipinos living in there that no one has seen since it happened," she said.

"There will have been other people living in those flats it seems who will have been undocumented. Those people were never there in the first place as far as the social services are concerned. Because of the awful fire, their won't be any remains either, so there will be this swathe of people who sort of didn't exist."

Prime Minister Theresa May told MPs that the authorities would not carry out immigration checks on victims.

The Conservative premier also revealed that at least three tower blocks in the UK had tested positive for "combustible" cladding materials amid widespread fears.

"Shortly before I came to the chamber I was informed that a number of these tests have come back as combustible," she said. "The relevant local authorities and fire services have been informed and, as I speak, they are taking all possible steps to ensure buildings are safe and to inform affected residents."

The government has established a £5m discretionary fund to provide £5,000 grants via the Department for Work and Pensions to victims. Work is currently ongoing to rehouse all residents who have had to leave their home and 68 permanent social housing units have been made available, along with more than 160 temporary units.

Protesters took to Parliament Square, opposite the Houses of Parliament, on Wednesday evening to demonstrate against the government's response to the fire.

Meher, 16, who lives in Westminster, told IBTimes UK: "The main message here today to Theresa May is that we need her out. This country is in a crisis, there's too much going on for us to ignore – the London Bridge attack, the Finsbury Park mosque attack. They are not paying as much attention as somebody like Jeremy Corbyn.

"I feel May's reaction to Grenfell wasn't much like a prime minister would do. Somebody like Corbyn actually physically went up to the victims and spoke to them, whereas Theresa May just went over to the emergency services. She's not much of a leader."