About Me
THE TRUTH: The British Government is deliberately forcing tens of thousands of people into abject poverty in an attempt to drive them out the country. These people are refused asylum seekers who receive no benefits, no medical care, no police protection, no legal aid. Many of them are homeless. Many have no choice but to work illegally. Many are daily exposed to exploitation, abuse and persecution. Many may have failed their asylum applications but still face almost certain imprisonment, torture and death if they are deported. It is an horrific catch-22 situation: they can not stay but it is not safe for them to go. It is illegal under British, European and international law to remove them, but that hasn't stopped the Home Office from refusing to give them either benefits or the chance to work and which removes from them any legal recourse or status after they are refused. These are people who have no rights at all. Nowhere people. Shadow people. Some have been here for ten years or more - living daily in fear of being arrested for being 'illegal' and sent to detention centres where they can be held for years. The Home Office is fully aware that these people receive no benefits. Fully aware that they must work illegally to survive. Fully aware that many can not be removed. Fully aware that many have nowhere to go and no country that will safely accept them. And yet the Home Office not only turns a blind eye to their plight but actively encourages the lies and distortions of the gutter press by making wholly incorrect and sweeping statements about 'foreigners stealing our benefits'. Nothing could be further from the truth. The deliberate impoverishment and criminalising of this marginalised element of the asylum issue amounts to nothing less than a crime against humanity and it is happening right here in Britain with the full and unaware complicity of the British people who are being consistently lied to about statistics and confused about the distinctions between the various types of migrants and who are being made to pay for cruel and economically unnecessary detentions whilst losing billions of pounds a year in tax revenue. Enough is enough. Let long-term refused asylum seekers who can not be deported for human rights reasons have temporary work permits until it is safe for them to return to their countries of origin. They account for far less than half a percent of our total population and we stand to lose nothing and gain everything by allowing them to help themselves whilst contributing to our economy. Do not surrender to ill-informed paranoia and hatred - stand up for a Britain that is proud, just, realistic, and decent.
www.stillhuman.org.uk
STRANGERS INTO CITIZENS PROPOSAL:
STRANGERS INTO CITIZENS is a campaign by the country’s largest alliance of civic institutions for a pathway into citizenship for undocumented migrants who have made new lives in the UK. The Citizens Organising Foundation (COF) believes the case for an “earned amnesty†is compelling, on humanitarian, economic, fiscal and administrative grounds; and is busy building an alliance of citizens calling on Government to implement a one-off “earned amnesty†law as part of its overhaul of the UK’s immigration policy.
FACING FACTS
There are between 300,000 and 500,000 irregular migrants in Britain - a combination of refused asylum seekers and visa overstayers. Many of them are here to stay, either because they are afraid to go back, or do not want to go back because they have jobs and livelihoods in the UK. Many use false documents; they pay taxes and contribute to economic growth. Or they are asylum-seekers prevented from working who are asking for the dignity of being allowed to do so.
We believe that those who have been here for four or more years should be admitted to a two-year pathway to full legal rights (“leave to remainâ€) during which they work legally and demonstrate their contribution to UK economy and society. The alternative is no alternative. The Home Office admits that at the current rate of deportations, it would take 25 years to remove hundreds of thousands of irregular migrants, and cost billions of pounds. Nor - if it were possible - would it make any sense to do so: as economists, the CBI and the TUC agree, continued migration is vital to meet skills shortages and is responsible for our current low-inflation growth. A report by the National Crime Intelligence Service has summarised the total loss to the Exchequer from unpaid tax and NI contributions to be as much as £3.3 billion - enough to build 132 schools or 13 hospitals. The extra fiscal revenue from regularization would result in a net gain to the Exchequer of between £500m to £1bn, according to estimates by the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR).
Maintaining the current policy is causing chaos, distress, bureaucratic logjams and misery on a large scale. Hardworking people are criminalized, and honest people turned into liars. The underground economy is growing, creating an area outside the law which gives succour to criminals.
Regularisation would require a new Home Office regulation, similar to the UK family amnesty of 2003: a simple, practical measure that would liberate good people from limbo and allow them to take their place as law-abiding citizens in our nation. Other European countries have carried out similar regularization measures (sometimes called “amnestiesâ€) as a way of closing the gap between law and reality. Spain, Italy, Greece, the Netherlands and Germany have all introduced some form of wide-ranging regularization in the past few years - each measure has been different, and geared to the particular needs of each nation. We believe it is time now for the UK to do the same.
CONTROL OUR BORDERS, RESPECT HONEST MIGRANTS
A country has the right to regulate its borders. An amnesty with too generous provisions could weaken that policy. Hence our four plus two years' criterion, which annuls any risk of encouraging further illegal immigration while recognising the place of those already here.
There is no longer a deterrent effect in criminalizing people who are hard-working, honest and conscientious, who pay taxes and contribute to society, and who have put down roots in the UK. Forcing them to live beyond the law does not make our borders stronger but brings the law into disrepute. It also encourages people-traffickers, drug traffickers, international criminals and terrorists, who are far harder to track down because of the size of the shadow economy. Regularization will help to expose these undesirables, enabling authorities to concentrate resources on removing them -- and not the honest, hard-working people who are making Britain great.
Regularization would also be of great benefit to our beleaguered asylum process, clearing at a stroke the huge backlog of cases dating back to the late 1990s. The measure would bring relief and hope to thousands left destitute or in limbo, freeing up their energies and gifts to the benefit of the economy.
CREATING CIVIC SPACE FOR POLITICAL ACTION
Many politicians fear that by allowing discussion of this pragmatic measure, they will look soft on the issue. STRANGERS INTO CITIZENS is, above all, a public-opinion campaign aimed at making the issue part of the national conversation. Our growing alliance of faith, business and public-sector bodies - as well as MPs - is providing evidence of broad civic support for an earned amnesty, creating the political space for Government to act. On 7 May 2007, following a service at Westminster Cathedral, we will show that the measure has strong civic backing in a march to Parliament Square.
THE BENEFITS OF REGULARIZATION
The case for a one-off "earned amnesty" for migrants is overwhelming.
It recognises the dignity of human beings who have made new lives in Britain; extends and reinforces the rule of law; levels the playing-field for low-paid workers; enables businesses to employ legally the labour it needs; recognises the role that migrants already play in society; ensures that tens of thousands of British workers receive the protection of the law; shrinks the black economy; free up billions of pounds in taxes for the Exchequer; enables local authorities to plan better; solves the expensive, inhuman delay in processing old asylum claims; builds a more cohesive British society; and turns outlaws into neighbours - "strangers into citizens" - in the best British tradition of pragmatism and justice.
www.strangersintocitizens.org.uk
(this page serves to present the facts surrounding the plight of refused asylum seekers in the United Kingdom and is not the official Strangers Into Citizens myspace page)
