FOREIGN citizens living in Wales are worried they will be deported once the UK leaves the European Union, first minister Carwyn Jones has said.

Theresa May is due to trigger Article 50, which begins the process of leaving the EU, tomorrow (Wednesday).

And speaking in the Senedd today Mr Jones said he met with the Prime Minister and Brexit secretary David Davis last week and said at that point they had not yet decided what form the letter which begins the process should take.

“There are still EU citizens in Wales who are concerned,” he said.

“Yesterday I met with the Romanian ambassador.

“The Romanian community is quite small, but some of them are concerned that they’ll be deported, literally.

“It’s not a fear that is grounded in fact, but people saw what happened in the US and they have extrapolated that to the situation here.”

Mr Jones said one of the first issues which should be dealt with during the process is to resolve the status of EU citizens living in the UK and British people living in Europe.

And he added he was “becoming increasingly unconvinced” farming subsidies currently paid by the EU would not continue post-2020.

“That is my greatest fear,” he said.

“We know what that would mean for the economy of rural Wales.”

He added he did not expect the Article 50 letter to contain anything referring to devolution.

Responding, Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood, who today presented a list of demands for the process, said she had “no confidence in the UK Government’s ability to reflect our specific Welsh national interests”.

“Wales can’t afford to pay a high price for a hard Brexit, and we know that we’re going to have to defend our interests during the Article 50 negotiations,” she said.

Among the party’s demands are to ensure the UK can continue to participate in the single market and customs union, guaranteeing citizenship rights to Welsh people living in the UK and EU citizens in Wales as well as ensuring powers over devolved areas are passed back to Wales rather than Westminster.

The party is also calling for devolved administrations to be consulted on the final deal before the UK leaves Europe and for Westminster to guarantee current levels of funding for EU-funded schemes post-2020.