Chagos Islanders are at risk of becoming the next Windrush scandal, lawyers have warned after third generation families were threatened with deportation.

Lawyers acting for the families say hundreds are being subjected to the Government's "hostile" environment policy and have accused the Home Office of unfairly deporting children, who have been educated and raised in Britain, once they turn 18.

Many of the families first moved to Britain in 1967, when they were forcibly removed from their Indian Ocean home by the British government.

However, although first and second generation Islanders are entitled to British citizenship, the problem arises for third generation children if they are born overseas.

Alexander Finch, a senior solicitor at Fragomen LLP who represents several families, said his clients were being tied in the same bureaucratic knots as many West Indians caught in the Windrush scandal - with equally tragic results.

"A third-generation Chagossian who finds themselves in the UK without a valid visa is subject to all the effects of the 'hostile' or 'compliant' environment," he told The Telegraph.

“They may have been brought here as children and will only see the effects once they turn 18."

He went on: "They often end up not only destitute, but vulnerable to exploitation… others have already been deported, breaking up families”.