The Home Office has been engulfed in a fresh crisis after accusations emerged that it told 7,000 foreign students to leave the UK in error.

In Sajid Javid’s first day in office new revelations have been leaked of a shocking blunder that could have left students homeless and detained.

According to the Financial Times the Home Office may have falsely accused thousands of foreign students of faking their proficiency in English and ordered them to leave the country.

A large majority of the students who were accused of cheating have not been allowed to appeal against the Home Office decision, obtain the evidence against them, or meet officials face-to-face so the quality of their English can be assessed, the report reveals.

It highlights yet another example of the affect Theresa May’s “hostile environment” policy is having on people in the UK.

In a judgement on the case of one Bangladeshi student, published last year, an immigration tribunal judge said that the Home Office’s behaviour was “so unfair and unreasonable as to amount to an abuse of power”.

Mr Lewis, who has represented several of the affected claimants and overturned the Home Office’s ruling in each case, added that “the highly questionable quality of the evidence upon which these accusations have been based and the lack of any effective judicial oversight have given rise to some of the greatest injustices that I have encountered in over 20 years of practice”.

Sajid Javid: The immigrant's son who turned his back on immigrants

Standing outside the Home Office Sajid Javid followed George Osborne, David Cameron and Theresa May in striking the awkward stance that is supposed to strike notes of confidence, determination and strength.

The underlying message was also made clear. Javid is here to end the hostile era for illegal immigrants, with promises of a policy overhaul on the back of the Windrush saga which he feels personally affected by.

The Daily Mail heralded it a victory for diversity in the country, asking of the appointment: “Could there be a more eloquent tribute to how far Britain has evolved into a diverse, meritocratic, multi-racial society?”

But a glance back over Javid’s voting record paints a much removed picture from the one the mainstream media would have you believe.

During his eight year stint as an MP, he has backed measures supporting Theresa May’s “hostile environment” for illegal immigrants with some gusto, voting for the government’s controversial Immigration Act in 2014 and consistently voting against a right to remain for EU nationals already in living in the UK.

Indeed, over the past few years alone he has:

• Voted to restrict the support available to failed asylum seekers and illegal migrants.
• Voted in favour of the state being allowed to intercept people’s communications and obtain personal data.
• Voted in favour of arrangements for immigration checks for those opening banks and building society accounts.
• Voted against banning the immigration detention of those who are pregnant and against guidance to be taken into account on the immigration detention of vulnerable people.
• Voted to create criminal offences of renting a home, driving, and working, while disqualified from doing so due to immigration status; and for other measures in the Immigration Bill.
• Voted in favour of making it a criminal offence for someone to work if their immigration status prohibits it.

Given his past record it’s hard to hold out any hope for the victims of the Windrush crisis or for the treatment of EU nationals after Britain’s split from the continent has been completed.