Thursday, October 16, 2014

The Police State

Home Secretary Theresa May has said she wants to make Britain a ‘hostile environment’
for illegal immigrants yet thousands of migrants who have lived and worked legally in Britain for decades, in many cases having arrived in the country as children, are falling victim of the government’s more restrictive immigration laws, according to a report by the charity Legal Action Group. Thousands of long-term resident migrants – many of whom were educated, married and raised families in Britain – have been caught out by recent legislative changes that have left them in a legal limbo and often without a job, even though until recently they could work and claim benefits legally.  Those who,  after living most of their lives in the UK, having long  taken their Britishness for granted, such people can’t believe their nationality,much less their lawful presence, is being questioned. They have national insurance numbers and driving licences, pay their taxes and (until recently) could work and claim beneits, just like anyone else. Until being asked for proof by employers or the Job Centre, none had any reason to question their immigration status.

'Aubrey', 53, who came to England from Jamaica in 1973 at the age of 12. His Jamaican passport was stamped with indefinite leave to remain. But when it was replaced after he lost it four years ago he did not apply to the Home Office for the ILR stamp. As a single father on a tight budget, he had not wanted to pay £600 for something he assumed was not that necessary. Under the 2006 Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act, which introduced civil penalties for employers hiring those without permission to work, Aubrey was asked by his employer of three years for his documents. What his employer wanted was not proof of his work record (P60s and P45s), but proof of his immigration status, which he lacked because he did not have the ILR stamp in his passport. Aubrey was suspended without pay in February because he could not prove to official satisfaction his legal right to live and work in this country. He has been unemployed since then, having to borrow money from family and friends.

'Lasith' came to the UK from Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) in 1964, arriving with his younger brother and grandmother. “ I got a letter from the Border Agency, hassling me. They gave me a  deportation order.’ What he describes was, in  fact, a letter from Capita (a private company
contracted by the Border Agency to track  down those who might have no right to be in the UK). It stated that he had 28 days to leave voluntarily. The thought he would be ejected from the country where he’d lived for half a century, and which his whole family called home, was devastating. ‘What are they talking about? This is my country! My father’s a British citizen, my brother’s a British citizen, my uncle’s a British citizen. My father came here early 1950s. Some of my uncles came here in the early 1940s. I can’t believe all this”

The 2014 Immigration Act, which restricts access to NHS services and required a status check by private landlords, represents a further effort to make Britain a “hostile environment” for illegal immigrants, the report says.

“Government policies designed to be tough on migrants via employer checks, landlord checks, Department for Work and Pensions checks are having disastrous consequences for migrants who have been in the UK for many years often having arrived here as children,” said Roopa Tanna, a solicitor at the Islington Law Centre. “They are in reality British having contributed to British society by working, paying taxes and raising families. Suddenly, as a consequence of the ‘get tough’ policies, they find themselves sacked from their jobs, unable to support themselves and facing spiralling debt – in short, their lives falling apart because they are now expected to prove their status when they never were.”

£600 every time you get a new passport is not negligeable. What's more, all of these people are eligible for UK citizenship - there's just one catch: It now costs nearly £2000 just for the application and the passport (not including the cost of any preparation for tests etc). This is PROHIBITIVE, many of these people work in low-paid but essential jobs as nurses, cleaners, in public service; they have been holdng the UK together for decades.

The Home Office said “it is up to anyone who does not have an established immigration status to regularise their position, however long they have been here.”

http://new.lag.org.uk/media/186917/small_chasing_status.pdf

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/oct/15/immigration-laws-migrants-legal-action-group

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