When even the Daily Mail – usually the anti-immigration cheerleader – lambasts the government for mistreating immigrants, calling it a “fiasco that shames Britain”, it is clear that the situation really is very bad indeed. The treatment of the Windrush generation is as shameful as shameful gets, and no apology or U-turn can undo the harm already done to people’s lives.

The extent of that harm remains somewhat unclear, however. Although we can get an idea from the many devastating personal accounts, the full reach is not yet known. While the immigration minister, Caroline Nokes, noted on Monday that Windrush-era citizens had been wrongly removed from the UK, it now transpires that the government does not actually know what has happened. Only now is the Home Office checking whether anyone has actually been deported.

In light of that, it is laughable when Amber Rudd concedes that the Home Office has “lost sight of individuals” and become “too concerned with policy”. Of course that policy, the loss of sight of individuals, stems from one thing only: this government’s hostile environment strategy, introduced by Theresa May when she was home secretary. It is a strategy driven by an obsession with the number of immigrants in the UK, and an even greater obsession with bringing that number down. A strategy informed by rightwing thinktanks, commentators and politicians at the fringes, including Brexiters. And a strategy that is constantly extending its reach, now also affecting EU citizens, of whom I am one.

Decades of contributions to this country make no difference in this 'hostile environment'

For us the Windrush scandal confirms all we have been worried about for the best part of two years, since the referendum result. Decades of contributions to this country make no difference in this “hostile environment”. Words and assurances are meaningless. The incompetence of both government and the Home Office is destroying lives. We can see yet more evidence of errors; yet more evidence of the onus being placed on those threatened with deportation; and yet more evidence of one’s existing record in the UK not being enough to stop the worst from happening.

Play Video 2:00 Who are the Windrush generation? – video explainer

The impact of the Windrush revelations was visible immediately on EU citizens’ discussion forums and social media. Outrage over their treatment was the prevailing sentiment, but there was also fear as many EU citizens recognise themselves in a Windrush story: decades of life in the UK; here legally now, with rights being retrospectively questioned; never anticipating the need to produce evidence for one’s status.

There was also a lot of anger. Anger because of the hypocrisy many politicians and commentators showed while scrambling to wash their hands of the Windrush scandal. Priti Patel, for instance, called it appalling, wondering since when had our “values changed to create this injustice”. Well, we know the answer to that: since politicians started supporting the hostile environment, of course. Patel is one of them, as her long record of voting against protections for immigrants shows. Like others who now claim to care about the rights of those who have contributed to the UK for decades, she also voted against guaranteeing the rights of EU citizens last year.

Yet while this hypocrisy is telling, the biggest hurdle for us EU citizens now is that the government’s spin that our rights are secure is working. Our rights are not secure. Neither are those of Britons who live in another EU country. First, because nothing is agreed until everything is agreed; and secondly, because settled status will not work for everyone and will cause discrimination if implemented as planned.

Windrush generation case fuels fears over EU citizens' fate post-Brexit Read more

The UK government, make no mistake, is at this very moment actively creating a new generation of immigrants who could become imperilled in the future in much the same way as the Windrush generation has been recently. Settled status will force us EU citizens to apply for rights that we previously had and place us on a special register against which banks and landlords, for example, will need to check us.

Many will fall through the cracks at the point of application because they lack what is deemed the right evidence. You may think this cannot happen, but it can happen much more quickly than most assume. What, for example, if all bills and accounts are in the name of a partner? And, on a practical level, how can we trust the Home Office to deliver any of this? If it cannot even deal with a comparatively small group of people in a humane and well-organised way, how could it possible deal with 3.7 million EU citizens? It would need to process (my favourite word these days) 6,000 of us per day to make this work in the time available – a calculation that assumes applications are evenly spread out, which of course they won’t be.

These are just two of a total of 128 unsettled questions that the3million campaign group recently asked the Home Office. We need answers to all of these questions. Now more than ever. In the end the Windrush scandal confirms one thing very clearly to EU citizens: we cannot trust the UK government to protect our rights. And neither should the EU.

• Tanja Bueltmann is a professor in history at Northumbria University. She is an EU national whose work focuses on diaspora and migration history