UK: Asylum and immigration (2)
01 January 1991
UK: Asylum and immigration
artdoc November=1995
Illegal immigrants scare leads to new immigration measures
Following the resignation of a former immigration minister from
the Conservative government, the government has announced a
review of the immigration service and new measures to cut down
on appeals and speed up asylum application processes. Home
secretary Michael Howard has promised a budget of ?37 million for
the immigration service to increase the number of case workers
and asylum adjudicators and has claimed that the new measures
will lead to a saving of ?100m over three years in social
security benefit payment. A new immigration and asylum bill will
also be presented before the next parliament.
Conservative MP Charles Wardle resigned because he said Britain's
controls on immigration were at risk from Europe and that "the
British people have never been asked if they want to leave the
back door open to uncontrolled number of immigrants". Later,
home secretary Howard told Wantage Conservative Association that
most asylum-seekers were bogus applicants, seeking a better
quality of life in Britain. "With the best will in the world,
we cannot offer such people a home and we must be robust in
denying them settlement" (Daily Express 13.2.95, Independent
16.2.95, Guardian 18.2.95).
Airlines and ferries owe ?22m to immigration
service in unpaid fines
A public spending watchdog, the National Audit Office, says that
airlines and ferry companies owe the immigration service more
than ?22m in unpaid fines for bringing passengers to Britain
without proper documentation. The Audit Office, which recommends
the improvement of the immigration service by extending the use
of computers, also reports that the number of inadequately
documented passengers arriving at British ports has fallen from
14,100 in 1990 to 9,700 in 1993. Conservative politician Winston
Churchill's claim that there are 150,000 illegals entering the
UK each year is without foundation (Guardian 22.2.95).
Victims of torture detained in British prisons The Medical
Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture reports that of
47 asylum-seekers visited by the foundation in detention
centres, evidence of torture could be produced in 45 cases.
The fact that doctors could not provide evidence in the two
remaining cases does not suggest that they lack credibility
but is merely an indication that there was no visible evidence
of torture.
The foundation concludes that "detention of asylum-
seekers, particularly those who have been tortured, is harsh
and unnecessary" and "The longer someone is detained, the
harder it becomes to separate the trauma they suffered in the
country of origin from anxiety at being again in prison" (A
betrayal of hope and trust' a report by the Medical Foundation
for the Care of Victims of Torture, 96-98 Grafton Road, London
NW5 3ED.
Fear of deportation led to suicides
A woman from Latvia, who feared deportation, and her daughter
have been found hanged at a house in County Durham.
Zinaida Mitzofanova (63) came to Britain to join her
daughter Valentina Featherstone (39) last August and was
thought to have been due to go before a tribunal to appeal
against a Home Office order requiring her to leave the country
(Independent 3.3.95).
Kurdish refugees denied access to hospital treatment
North Middlesex hospital has been reported to the Commission
for Racial Equality over allegations that it is refusing to
treat Kurdish refugees. According to the manager of a GP
practice, the hospital is screening patients whose first
language is not English and had so far refused to treat at
least 25 refugees, all of whom were fully entitled to NHS
treatment.
GP-manager Vinod Thaper said: "To screen people in this
way is outright racism. In effect what is happening is that
this hospital ... is acting as an immigration service"
(Independent 21.2.95).
Some success f