IMMIGRATION BULLETIN
JANUARY 29, 2007



This past week has been dominated by news of the government's supposed
crackdown on immigration. It is, of course, nothing of the kind, but
merely an exercise in posturing for Middle England plus a grab for more
power by the state. ID cards are wholly unnecessary to stop illegal
immigration, IF the government is serious about stopping it. And they
are wholly useless, if it is not serious. Of course, they will come in
handy milking the taxpayer for even more money, and for imposing even
more of the petty authoritarianism that liberals hunger for.

Furthermore, don't forget that even IF the government is taken at its
word, and if these schemes manage to shut down illegal immigration, this
means nothing in a country where the government is continually pushing
to widen the door to LEGAL immigration as much as it can. At best, all
they're doing is changing the paperwork status of people who have no
business being in this country at all.


1. ID CARDS WON'T STOP ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

http://www.politics.co.uk/issueoftheday/domestic-policy/civil-liberties/
identity-cards/no2id-id-cards-wont-stop-illegal-immigration-$464376$4643
23.htm

Anti-identity card campaigners NO2ID have condemned the new UK borders
bill as 'theatrical' and said it will not tackle illegal immigration.

The new bill will require all non-EEA foreigners resident in Britain to
apply for a biometric identity card and could be fined and deported if
they fail to.

General secretary Guy Herbert said the proposal was 'nasty and it's
stupid' and would deter 'talented foreigners who are earning and
spending money that keeps the Treasury afloat'.

'Will Roman Abramovich take kindly to reporting his whereabouts to the
authorities, or will that feel a little too much like home?” he asked.

National coordinator Phil Booth said: 'Clearly desperate to give the
appearance of being tough on illegal immigration, what this actually
amounts to is diverting another bit of the Home Office budget to build
the biometric bit of the ID database.'





2. ID CARDS FOR FOREIGNERS UNDER NEW RULES

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,200-2567707,00.html

Foreigners from outside Europe who live in Britain will be forced to
carry identity cards or face a £1,000 fine and deportation in an attempt
to stamp out illegal immigration and organised crime, the Government
announced today.

The Government's new Borders Bill will compel all foreign nationals from
outside the European Economic Area (EEA) who live in Britain to carry a
'biometric immigration document' in a bid to clamp down on illegal
immigration and crime, Liam Byrne, the Immigration Minister, revealed.

The move has led to criticism from civil rights campaigners - but the
Government says it is vital to keep track of migration levels and stop
people disappearing into a criminal underworld.

The new Bill also provides a £100million package of measures to boost
border control.

These include the roll-out of a hi-tech computer system to every airport
worldwide to check the fingerprints of everyone attempting to get a visa
to enter the UK.

The database would be linked to the police national computer in the UK,
meaning anyone with a criminal conviction, or anyone who had previously
been deported from the UK, could not board their flight to re-enter
Britain.

All foreign airports and ports with flights to the UK will contain such
a database by January next year, with one third already having had it
installed.

The Bill will also allow for immigration officers to be given the power
of arrest for the first time, a new uniform, and the power to detain and
prosecute suspected organisers of people-trafficking.

It will also make the deportation of some foreign prisoners automatic
once their sentence ends - but prisoners will technically still be able
to hold up the move by logging a claim to remain under the Human Rights
Act.

Civil rights protesters immediately attacked the proposal for all UK
residents who are not members of the EEA - which is all EU member states
plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland - to be forced to
carry identity cards, containing their biometric data, with stiff
penalties for those who fail to.

Phil Booth, national co-ordinator of NO2ID, which campaigns against the
introduction of identity cards, described the move as 'a devastating
mistake,' while Shami Chakrabarti, director of the human rights group
Liberty, said the cards could prove 'racially divisive' if they resulted
in immigration spot-checks on Britain's streets.

But Liam Byrne, the Immigration Minister, defended the move, saying. 'At
the moment, there are up to 60 different documents which someone can
show to prove their entitlement to be in Britain. That is much too
complicated.'

He added that the Government intended to 'increase the sanctions' for
businesses which break the rules and employ people illegally.

But he added: 'I think the very least I can do is make life easier for
those businesses by giving them a failsafe, easy method to check whether
people are here legally and whether they are who they say they are.'

The moves are a key part of the Home Office's attempts to get to grips
with the asylum and immigration system after David Roberts, head of
removals at the Immigration and Nationality Directorate, last year told
a House of Commons committee that he did not have the 'faintest idea'
how many illegal immigrants there were in the UK. Some have put the
number at about 400,000.

Damian Green, the Conservative shadow immigration minister, said the
Home Office in its current form was incapable of making the immigration
system effective.

'This is the Government's sixth immigration Bill in 10 years. The
previous five have not worked, so there is no reason to believe that
John Reid's tough rhetoric will translate into effective action this
time,' he said.

The Bill will be debated in the Commons for the first time on February
5.





3. BRITAIN’S NEW BORDER COPS REPORT FOR DUTY

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23383182-details/Britain's%20
new%20border%20cops%20report%20for%20duty/article.do

This is the new uniform that will be worn by Britain's border guards.

Ministers unveiled the immigration officers' outfit today as they set
out new powers to tackle illegals trying to enter the country.

Under legislation published in Parliament this morning, immigration
staff and police will be able to arrest company bosses caught
intentionally employing illegal migrants.

They will also be able to seize any cash in the possession of illicit
employees, or found at their workplace. The new legal armoury, which
will also include extra powers for tackling people smugglers and sex
traffickers, is intended by ministers to bolster the country's border
defences and address public concerns over illegal immigration.

As a sign of their enhanced powers, immigration staff will be put in
uniform for the first time. The outfits, which feature navy-blue
epaulettes, will be initially piloted at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted
airports and Poole port.







4. LOOPHOLE WARNING OVER EXPULSION MOVES

http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID
=1999834

Long awaited new laws making it easier to deport foreign criminals will
also allow them to delay their expulsion by lodging human rights claims,
it was revealed yesterday.

Home Office immigration proposals backtracked on a view expressed by
Prime Minister Tony Blair that offenders should be kicked out of Britain
'irrespective' of human rights concerns in their home countries.

Foreign prisoners will face automatic deportation if they have committed
a serious offence and been jailed for 12 months or more.

But the UK Borders Bill also set out a range of exceptions where the
Home Secretary would not be able to make a deportation order against
criminals, including:

* If their deportation would breach their rights under the European
Convention of Human Rights or the Refugee Convention

* Where an appeal against their conviction or sentence had begun or
'could be brought'

* If the offender was under 18 at the time of the crime.

At the height of the foreign prisoners scandal that led to the sacking
of former home secretary Charles Clarke, Mr Blair said there should be a
presumption of automatic deportation in the 'vast bulk' of foreign
national prisoner cases.
He told the Commons last May: 'Those people, in my view, should be
deported irrespective of any claim that they have that the country to
which they are going back may not be safe.'

Immigration Minister Liam Byrne said foreign criminals who made human
rights claims or appeals would be held in detention under immigration
powers.
'We will keep people in detention until we have worked through these
obstacles,' he said.

But he went on: 'If someone is still going through the process of
appealing against the conviction we have got to get certainty of their
guilt before we begin deportation proceedings.'

Although the courts can free offenders detained under immigration
powers, Mr Byrne said the Government was currently winning most cases.
Yesterday's Bill also brings in a wide range of new powers for
immigration officers to crack down on human trafficking and other
organised crime, including wider, police-style powers of arrest.

The Bill sets out how foreign nationals already living in Britain will
be forced to apply for biometric immigration documents.

Failure to buy the ID could lead to a £1,000 fine or losing their right
to stay in Britain.

Mr Byrne confirmed he had looked at issuing an amnesty to illegal
immigrants, but had rejected the idea.

The deputy director-general of the Confederation of British Industry,
John Cridland said: 'It is only right that Government takes tough,
targeted action against the small minority of firms who persistently and
knowingly employ illegal immigrants.

'The proposed new identification document should help employers by
simplifying the current system of checks, which the Government itself
acknowledges makes things far too complicated for legitimate employers.'

The general secretary of the NO2ID campaign against identity cards, Guy
Herbert, branded the new Bill 'nasty and stupid'.

He said: 'In its haste to be seen 'doing something', the Government has
forgotten that most foreign visitors don't have to come here. Bully
tourists and you'll have fewer tourists.

'The City and the entertainment industries are full of talented
foreigners who are earning and spending money that keeps the Treasury
afloat – and the property market.

'Did anyone think to ask Madonna how she feels about being
fingerprinted? Will Roman Abramovich take kindly to reporting his
whereabouts to the authorities, or will that feel a little too much like
home?'

A Home Office spokesman said: 'The UK Borders Bill will give immigration
officers vital new powers to do their job better, to secure the border,
tackle the traffickers and shut down illegal working.'






5. U.K. Will Take Fingerprints From Non-European Workers

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=a4NAdwGqoeJc&refer=u
k

All non-Europeans working in Britain will have their fingerprints taken
under government plans to stop illegal working.

Workers from outside the European Economic Area, which is made up of the
27 European Union countries plus Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein, will
have to apply for a biometric immigration document or face having their
work visa removed. Employers found hiring illegal workers face fines of
1,000 pounds ($1,961).

The proposal is included in the Borders Bill, published today by Home
Secretary John Reid, whose department is under attack for failing to
keep track of foreign nationals living in Britain. Reid's predecessor
Charles Clarke was sacked in May after he said the Home Office had freed
1,023 foreign prisoners without considering first whether they should be
deported.

‘I was very struck by people in the business community who said it is
very difficult to see if someone has the right to be here,’ Immigration
Minister Liam Byrne said at his office in London. ‘There are up to 60
documents that have to be presented in order to prove someone's
entitlement to be here. That is just too complicated.’

Under the legislation business people in the U.K. will start registering
for a ‘biometric immigration document’ from 2008, Byrne said. The data
will have to meet a European standard, he added.

The government is overhauling its immigration laws, following the
arrival of about 500,000 immigrants since 10 mainly East European
nations joined the European Union in 2004.

Britain has pledged 100 million pounds extra for enforcement and plans
new technology to count people in and out of Britain and biometric ID
cards for foreign nationals, a system to be expanded to U.K. citizens
from 2009.

Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose Labour Party trails behind the
opposition Conservatives in opinion polls, has put the fight against
crime and terrorism at the heart of his final months in office. Reid has
responsibility for pushing through seven of the 29 bills outlined to
Parliament on Nov. 15.

Every poll but one since 2004 has put the Conservatives ahead of the
government on immigration.

‘This is the government's sixth immigration bill in 10 years,’ Damian
Green, who speaks for the Conservatives on immigration, said in an
e-mailed statement. ‘The previous five have not worked so there is no
reason to believe that John Reid's tough rhetoric will translate into
effective action this time.’

Phil Booth, national co-ordinator of NO2ID, which campaigns against the
introduction of identity cards, dismissed the legislation as the ‘Let's
fingerprint Madonna Bill,’ a reference to the U.S. pop star who has
homes in the U.K.

‘The Home Office is acting out a piece of security theater,’ Booth said
in a telephone interview. ‘The impact on people who are here working
legitimately will be to treat them like asylum seekers are currently
being treated. It will have a potentially huge impact on the City,
increasing the burden on business.’

To contact the reporter on this story: Kitty Donaldson in London at
kdonaldson1@...





6. SUDANESE JIJACKER DEMANDS ASYLUM IN BRITAIN

http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?ContentBlockID=6270aee1-daf4-4cb3-876
a-eea87cec4c01

The man who hijacked a Sudanese jetliner this week, reportedly to call
attention to the situation in the Darfur region of the troubled country,
has asked for asylum in Britain following the safe resolution of the
crisis.

Media reports identify the hijacker as 26-year-old Mohamed Abdu Altif, a
resident of the North Darfur capital city El Fasher. Using a pistol,
Altif allegedly hijacked an Air West 737 flying from Khartoum to El
Fasher, and forced the pilot to land in the Chadian capital of
N'Djamena. None of the 103 persons onboard were injured in the incident.

'The passengers were unaware that the plane had been hijacked,' said Air
West managing director Saif Omer to the Associated Press. Chadian
authorities say Altif originally told the pilot to fly to London, but
agreed to land in Chad when the pilot informed him the plane didn't have
enough fuel.

Officials haven't commented on how Altif was able to board the flight
with a handgun, although it's common knowledge security is lacking in
the region.

'We don't know where the security breach occurred,' said an anonymous
Air West official.

Analysts fear the hijacking is likely to further complicate relations
between Chad and Sudan. The two countries have accused each other of
backing rebels in their respective countries for years.

Chad's infrastructure minister, Adoum Younousmi, said Altif would be
brought to trial, and not allowed to flee to Britain.

'He is a terrorist and we will take him to court,' Younousmi said.
Sudanese officials declined to comment on the matter.




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