A 74-year-old British woman with severe Alzheimer’s has been threatened with deportation from Sweden over Brexit paperwork she was unable to complete because of her incapacitation.
Kathleen Poole lies bedridden in a dementia care home with no prospect of moving. Her family have told the Guardian that she is facing forced removal to the UK because she has not got an up-to-date passport and financial statements required under the new post-Brexit rules applying to British people in the EU.
The police have already been to her care home to go through her wardrobe and question nurses about her personal belongings in what campaigners say is one of the “most egregious” cases of vulnerable citizens being trampled on by Brexit.
“I am devastated and angry. This is inhumane to move a person who has Alzheimer’s and is too sick to even look after themselves. It’s a disgrace that it is even a subject and that it’s gone as far as deportation. No words could even describe this and tearing our family apart is horrendous,” said her son, Wayne.
A former chambermaid from Macclesfield, Kathleen moved to Sweden with her late husband to be close to Wayne, his Swedish daughter-in-law, Angelica, and four grandchildren.
But she developed Alzheimer’s at the age of 63 and has been in a care home for the past 10 years. The disease developed, leaving her unable to feed herself, bath herself or speak.
Care staff have to use a hoist to lift her from her bed to a wheelchair and use continence pads.
Kathleen had permanent residence and a “personal number” evidencing her right to be in Sweden but when Brexit came into force she needed to reapply for a new immigration status known as residence status.
Her family made an application before the deadline in 2021 but it was rejected because of the lack of a passport.
“She cannot leave her bed, so she never had the need to get a new passport and we explained that,” said her daughter-in-law Angelica who expected compassion when she told this to the migration authorities in two appeals.
Then in September, the family received a letter ordering her to leave the country.
Police showed up at the home in January when her family, who do not have power of attorney, were, again, unable to provide the paperwork needed.
“They were going through her wardrobe to see what clothes she had and asking the nurses what furniture belonged to her. The nurse said she didn’t know as she had only been there for a year.
“I am so angry. It is disgraceful and ridiculous that after 18 years in the country this is happening all because of Brexit,” said Angelica, who also enjoyed pre-Brexit freedom of movement and lived in Macclesfield for years before returning to Sweden with her husband.
She said one of her young children is having issues in school and has nightmares that the “police are going to come and [are] taking his granny away” in the past week.
“It’s not fair. They are affecting Swedish children too. Why can’t they just leave somebody where they are, which is close to their family?” she asked.
The Labour MP Hilary Benn, the former chair of the House of Commons Brexit select committee, called on the UK and EU to intervene urgently.
“This is shocking and I cannot understand why the Swedish authorities are threatening to remove Mrs Poole.
“The EU Commission, which is responsible for overseeing the residency rights of British citizens in the 27 member states, should intervene immediately – as should the British government – to put a stop to the deportation of a vulnerable British citizen.”
Her case highlights the risk Brexit created for vulnerable people across the EU and in the UK but campaigners say it also underlines the insufficient interest in the issue at UK and EU level.
“This is a lady who cannot even feed herself. The police are just doing a box-ticking exercise on what she can take with her but nobody is standing up and saying ‘this is preposterous, this should not be happening’,” said David Milstead, a British professor of physics in Sweden who is part of the British in Sweden group.
“For all the grand words of the UK and the EU, this is a shocking and egregious case of the misapplication of the withdrawal agreement,” he added.
The EU went to great lengths to ensure guarantees for all citizens affected through no fault of their own by the referendum result, with Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier declaring that “Brexit should not alter the nature of people’s daily lives” in a state of the union address in 2017.
A spokesperson for the Swedish migration minister, Maria Malmer Stenergard, said that, by law, they were not allowed to comment on individual cases. The migration agency did not respond to a request for comment.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development office said it was in touch with the Poole family and was continuing to support them.
“We are supporting a British woman and her family in Sweden,” it said.
But Angelica said the embassy in Stockholm had written to her on 9 February advising them to get legal advice and to cooperate with the police.
“It is important that you fully understand that the police can go ahead with the deportation, even without your consent,” a consular official told her in a letter seen by the Guardian.
Milstead said there was no organisation at the European Commission level or in Sweden mirroring that of the Independent Monitoring Authority in the UK which is a statutory body set up after Brexit to protect the rights of EU citizens.
“It’s all a bit like, this can be traced back to the original sin of Brexit and nothing can be done about it,” he said.
