NEW IMMIGRATION AND ASYLUM BILL: TORY ATTACK ON ASYLUM-SEEKERS
Only a month after Social Security Minister Peter Lilley announced proposals to deprive most asylum-seekers of the right to claim welfare benefits (see FECL No.38: "Savage cutbacks in welfare benefits for asylum seekers"), the Tories (British Conservative party) published their new Immigration and Asylum Bill (IAB) last November.
The IAB marks a new stage in the Tories' attacks on asylum-seekers in particular and black people in general.
The Bill gives the Home Secretary the powers to create a so-called "white list" of "safe countries". Asylum-seekers from those countries will automatically be assumed to be bogus, and will be dealt with under an accelerated application procedure.
Most asylum-seekers - not just those on the "white list" - will also be subject to a special "fast-track" appeals system, leaving them with insufficient time to prepare their case.
In addition, most asylum-seekers will also lose their right to a second appeal which they enjoy under the current appeals system.
One category of asylum-seekers - those who travel to this country through a safe country (such as any member state of the European Union) - will lose their right to appeal in-country completely.
Instead, they will be deported to the country through which they travelled and will have to appeal from there - even though the IAB makes no mention of any mechanism of how this would be possible.
New criminal offences
The IAB also introduces a series of new criminal offences.
Obtaining, or seeking to obtain, leave to enter this country by deception becomes a criminal offence. But, almost by definition, asylum-seekers are unable to approach their own authorities for correct documentation and are therefore obliged to travel illegally.
Assisting anyone to enter, or attempt to enter, this country by deception also becomes a criminal offence. This is aimed at the network of agents who, for whatever reason, assist asylum-seekers to flee their country.
Employing someone who has no immigration entitlement to work in this country likewise becomes a criminal offence. The employer's only defence is that they took "adequate steps" to check up on the immigration status of their employees. In other words, employers are transformed into immigration officers.
New powers for the police
In order to enforce these new laws, the police and immigration officers are given new powers of search and arrest by the IAB.
They will have the right to arrest, without a warrant, anyone they suspect of illegal entry or breaching the conditions of their visa. They will also have the right to search the homes of suspected illegal immigrants and remove them by force.
No public housing and Child benefits for asylum-seekers
Finally, the IAB complements Social Security Minister Peter Lilley's new social security regulations. It scraps the eligibility of asylum-seekers for public housing, and also removes their right to claim Child Benefit.
The Tories have been forced to postpone the introduction of the new social security regulations, largely because of a backlash from local authorities, including Tory-controlled ones.
The regulations scrap the right of asylum-seekers to Housing Benefit. But local authorities would be left to pick up the bill: until the IAB becomes law, they would still have a legal obligation to give accommodation to asylum-seekers with families.
Tory controlled Westminster Council - no friend of asylum-seekers - is therefore taking the government to court over the new regulations. The Tories have, however, not yet encountered any such problems in pushing the IAB through Parliament.
Although Labour imposed a three-line whip when the Bill received its second reading in december, the Party leadership is still pleading with the Tories to make the legislation "a genuine consensus exercise".
Labour wants the Bill referred to a special parliamentary Standing Committee which would examine the Bill's proposals, but the Tories are in no mood to accommodate Labour wishes and are pressing ahead regardless.
Stan Crooke (Glasgow)
The author works for the Scottish Refugee Council, Glasgow, but has written the above article in a personal capacity.