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British
National
Party
UK Immigration News Bulletin w/c September 10th, 2007
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1. GOVERNMENT 'WORKED OUT NUMBER
OF UK MIGRANTS
BY ASKING 169'
Small wonder if the authorities don't know how many immigrants
there are in UK.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=472513&in_page_id=1770
Official estimates of the number of Eastern Europeans coming
to Britain were based on interviews with a handful of people,
it has been claimed. Only 169 EU migrants were stopped and
quizzed for a Government survey, said critics. From these
interviews, it was concluded that 48,000 from eight Eastern
European countries arrived in the course of a year. Council
chiefs, who revealed details of the survey yesterday, said
they were the latest evidence that the influx has been grossly
underestimated. The allegations come amid growing controversy
over the Government's alleged inability to make a realistic
count of immigration in recent years. Local authorities complain
that official headcounts do not tally with their experience,
so Treasury grants are shifted elsewhere, while schools and
social services struggle to cope. For example, the Government
says the population has fallen by 3,000 in Slough, where 9,000
people - many of them Poles - applied for National Insurance
numbers last year. According to the official figures, the
population of Westminster has dropped by 15,500, despite evidence
that 2,000 migrants a week arrive through Victoria coach station
alone. Latest analyses suggest that more than 600,000 people
from Poland and the seven other Eastern European countries
that joined the EU in 2004 came to live here during the first
two years after borders were opened up. The criticism of the
official count centres on the International Passenger Survey,
the most important source of immigration information for the
Government's Office for National Statistics. The survey is
based on the results of interviews with those entering and
leaving the country at air and seaports. The ONS used it as
the basis for the finding that, in 2004, 48,000 from the eight
new EU member states came to live in Britain. Yesterday, leaders
of Torycontrolled Westminster Council said the estimate was
based on interviews with just 169 people from not just Eastern
Europe, but the whole of the EU. There were, the borough said,
only 79 people interviewed at airports other than Heathrow,
Gatwick and Manchester. This meant hubs with large numbers
of cheap flights from Eastern Europe, notably Stansted, Luton
and Liverpool, went unchecked, it was claimed. Westminster
also said that estimates of emigration - 360,000 were reckoned
by the ONS to have left Britain in 2004 - were based on interviews
with, for example, six people who left for Pakistan and the
Caribbean. Westminster's deputy leader, Colin Barrow, said:
'We have considerable concerns about the use of the International
Passenger Survey. 'We accept that a wide range of ports and
non-major airports are covered by the IPS, but the numbers
of migrants interviewed remains a serious issue. We think
there needs to be a re-examination of the way the Government
measures migration.' A spokesman for the Office for National
Statistics insisted 2,801 immigrants were interviewed for
the 2004 survey. He added: 'We know many EU migrants come
through airports other than Heathrow. That's why we interview
at all important ports, airports and the Channel Tunnel.'
2. NEW IMMIGRATION RULES IN SWEDEN
SPLIT REFUGEE FAMILIES
Sweden is not renowned for being tough on immigration but
on this occasion we entirely support this move.
http://www.thelocal.se/8032/20070729
Changes to immigration rules that make it more difficult for
refugees to bring their families to Sweden have been criticized
by the Swedish Board of Migration and the Red Cross. Previously
people who have qualified as 'quota refugees' have been able
to bring their families to Sweden under the quota refugee
scheme. But under new changes introduced by the government,
families do not qualify as quota refugees, according to Sveriges
Radio. The changes mean that families have to apply separately
for visas to Sweden once their relative has been accepted
as a quota refugee. Officials at the Migration Board say that
this can often lead to women and children being left alone
and vulnerable in their home countries. It is often impractical
for them to seek visas in Sweden, particularly if they live
in countries without Swedish embassies. A Red Cross spokeswoman
told Sveriges Radio that worry over relatives left behind
was making it more difficult for refugees in Sweden to integrate.
3. PAKISTAN TO SEND BACK ALL AFGHAN
REFUGEES BY 2009
Why can't Britain do the same?
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Pakistan/Pakistan_to_send_
back_all_Afghan_refugees_by_2009/articleshow/2243535.cms
Pakistan will send back all Afghan refugees, particularly
those settled in Balochistan and the North West Frontier Province
(NWFP), to their homeland by 2009, a Minister has said. "Four
Afghan refugee camps in Balochistan and the NWFP will be definitely
closed and all the refugees would be sent back to their country
by December 30, 2009," the 'Dawn' reported today, quoting
Pakistan's Minister for States and Frontier Region Sardar
Yar Mohammed Rind. According to government estimates, at present
there are over two million Afghan refugees in Pakistan and
a majority of them are settled in the NWFP. Stating that the
government has been holding talks with local leaders in both
the areas to work out ways for the peaceful closure of the
camps, Rind said, "We don't want to send them (refugees)
back by force because they have been our guests for 25 years.
We want their honourable repatriation." He also expressed
hope that both the governments of Balochistan and the NWPF
would extend their cooperation in closing the camps. The government
had already asked the 'unregistered' refugees, declared as
'illegal immigrants', to return to their country under the
UNHCR's voluntary repatriation programme, the Minister said,
adding $ 15 million has so far been spent in this regard.
"The property and documents of all illegal Afghan immigrants
would soon be confiscated as being foreigners they have no
right to buy land in Pakistan," he said. Claiming that
there're three lakh Afghan refugees without 'proof of registration'
in the Islamic nation, Rind said that over two lakh 'illegal
immigrants' had already been repatriated since the formal
completion of the registration process.
4. MALAYSIAN DETENTION CENTERS DANGEROUSLY
OVERCROWDED
Interesting how Malaysia is enforcing immigration laws. British
politicians should be ashamed.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=8092
The Malaysian government’s daily crackdown on undocumented
workers, including many people with refugee cards, has produced
severely overcrowded conditions in the country’s detention
centers, according to former detainees. “I felt hopeless
to be in a Malaysia detention camp,” said Maung Myo,
a Burmese Rohingya refugee released this week from a detention
facility. “In rooms built for four people, authorities
would detain as many as 15 to 20. So, there is no space to
lie down or sleep during the day or night.” Another Rohingya
refugee who refused to be named complained about the crowded
conditions and poor treatment in the detention centers. “I
never got enough food or drinking water,” the refugee
said. “The water we used in the detention camp was contaminated,
but we had no choice and had to drink it.” The refugee
had spent about six months in the camp before being deported
to the Malaysia-Thailand border. He paid nearly 1,500 Ringgit
(US $432) to get back into Malaysia, where he required a stomach
operation to correct a serious gastric illness only a
week after his return. Approximately 1 million undocumented
migrant workers live in Malaysia, according to the Kuala Lumpur-based
human rights group Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM). Malaysian
rights groups and migrant worker advocacy organizations are
concerned about the conditions in the government detention
facilities. Aegile Fernandez from the migrant advocacy group
Tenanaganita said that because the government is overcrowding
the detention centers, they do not have the capacity to provide
adequate food and care. “One of the major problems is
health issues,” Fernandez said. “Also food, because
of the large numbers. You're not able to give [detainees]
enough food to eat so that is another problem. Our centers
are not made to international standards. [Inmates] are just
put in one room and made to sleep on the floor.”
SUARAM Executive Director Yap Sweeseng raised concerns about
the lack of hygiene in detention centers. “Unhygienic
conditions make the situation worse. Many have contracted
diseases and there is no proper medical access for the detainees
in the detention camp,” Yap said. The Malaysian daily
newspaper The Star reported on Saturday that the country’s
immigration officials were working hard to deport illegal
workers because the country's 14 detention depots were almost
full. According to Malaysia’s Immigration Department
Director-General Datuk Wahid Md Don, authorities have caught
32,433 undocumented foreign workers this year from their nationwide
operations. They have also initiated investigations against
another 18,453 illegal migrants and have charged 13,980 others.
Fernandez of the advocacy group Tenanaganita said the Malaysian
government has to change it's attitude towards migrant workers.
“[The government doesn't] see them as workers who are
coming here, who are actually playing a big role in the economy
and development of the country,” she said. “You
come here, you work under whatever conditions, I throw you
to jail and deport you. The whole idea of treating migrant
workers as human beings, as guest workers in this country,
is not there at all, and I think that has to change.”
5. CHILD SEX OFFENDER BANNED FROM
AUSTRALIA
It would be nice if Britain did the same.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Child-sex-offender-banned-from-Australia/2007/08/03/1185648099896.html
A convicted child-sex offender found to have a soundproof
cell in his Queensland home's backyard has been banned from
Australia. New Zealand-born Brent Joseph Groves, 49, is living
in Wellington after he was banned from Australia on April
30. Groves, who moved to Australia in 1969, was jailed in
2002 for drug offences and for indecently treating a child
under 16. He was convicted again in 2004 on three counts of
indecent treatment of a child under 16. Groves was known to
wander around neighbourhoods carrying a kitten to attract
children's attention, and to watch children with binoculars.
A Queensland police spokeswoman said police had been investigating
another matter when they went to Groves' property at Rosewood,
west of Brisbane. In his backyard, police found a three square
metre soundproof cell, built from blocks, with barred windows
and an exit that required a key. The spokeswoman said no action
was taken because there was "no law against building
a bunker in a backyard". Groves told police he had built
the cell to house precious possessions. Immigration officials
revoked his visa on character grounds at Sydney airport as
he tried to return on April 30. Detective Senior Sergeant
Simon Perry, of Wellington CIB, said police were aware that
Groves was in the area and were keeping an eye on him. "He's
certainly a person of concern," Det Snr Sgt Perry said.
Australian authorities advised New Zealand police Groves was
sent back, and local New Zealand police carried out a risk
assessment on him.
6. RUSSIAN MIGRATION DEPARTMENT
BREAKS RECORD FOR FINES
This party has a strong admiration for the way Russia is committed
to preserve its national identity.
http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=22516
The St. Petersburg and Lenoblast Federal Migration Department
has collected a record 52.37 million rubles (over $2 million)
in fines for violations of a new migration law restricting
the influx of foreign workers in force since mid-January.
The law not only imposes a maximum fine of 800,000 rubles
on employers of illegal immigrant workers, but also makes
the employer liable for his deportation or expulsion costs.
While only a few hundred illegal immigrants were expelled
from Russian territory during the period, President Vladimir
Putin’s scheme to tempt overseas compatriots back to
Russia to replace the foreign labor force has made little
headway since it was made public over a year ago. “You
have to believe in a plan before setting out to realize it,”
said Police Major Yury Buryak, chief of the Migration Department,
citing a series of hindrances in putting the presidential
plan into practice. “St. Petersburg has been given a
target of accommodating at least 8,000 workers belonging to
this category [overseas Russians] but there’s not even
a place to shelter them,” he said, adding that, “the
same is true in the rest of Russia’s North West region.”
Sandwiched between EU countries, Russia’s Western enclave
of Kaliningrad is probably the most suitable place to execute
Putin’s plan, according to Buryak, who cited a degree
of success in meeting its target to attract 350,000 overseas
Russians. Putin called for Russian migrants to return to their
homeland to help fill in the population gap he called “Russia’s
demographic crisis” in his address to the nation in April
last year. Six months later, Putin met in St. Petersburg with
about 600 representatives of the Russian Diaspora to tempt
their 30 million compatriots to return with promises of work
and living incentive packages. About three months latter,
a law placing restrictions on foreign labor forces came into
effect. “The real concern in Russia’s official circles
is about an extinction of Russians as a race, rather than
population decline in its traditional sense,” said Dmitry
Dubrovsky, head of the modern ethnology and inter-ethnic relations
department at St.Petersburg’s Russian Museum of Ethnography,”
adding that “such cities [as St. Petersburg and Moscow]
are as a rule attractive spots for both internal and foreign
migrants,” without the necessity for a selective ethnic
call. During the six-month period since the new law came into
force, raids on 21,500 locations including construction and
trading sites, housing, industrial and agricultural facilities
in search of illegal foreign workers, migration officers located
366 foreigners from CIS countries who were either deported
or expelled. There was no indication of a negative effect
in the local labor market as 130,000 foreigners secured work
permits during the period, less than a third of the demand
in the city and its surrounding region, but more than four
times the number of permits issued in the whole of last year,
according to figures released by the migration authorities.
According to Buryak, while 6 million foreign workers were
needed across Russia, in St. Petersburg and Lenoblast there
were 350,000 vacancies for foreign workers when the law came
into force earlier in the year. Buryak said it was unlikely
that those jobs would filled by the end of the year, citing
problems that included lack of accommodation. He said that
about 355,000 foreigners were registered during the period,
but the actual number of illegal migrants is unknown, with
more accurate estimates only expected at the end of the year.
However, he ruled out long queues and bureaucratic red-tap
as a factor leading to the low turnout for registration, saying
that “there are no more queues in our offices and although
it’s on a commercial basis, there are hundreds of post
offices where foreigners are able to register themselves without
having to come to us.” Asked if the crime rate had declined
following the passage of the strict immigration law, Buryak
said, “allegations that foreigners are responsible for
most of crimes in the city are totally unfounded... only 1
percent of crimes [in the city] are committed by foreigners.”
Though not attributing it to the law, he said “the rate
of hate crimes has notably declined,” thanks to what
he called “law enforcers’ awareness of the problem
and their commitment in tackling xenophobia.”
7. RECOMMENDED READING:
"Overcrowded Britain" by Ashley Mote - an independent
MEP:
Foreword by Lord Stoddart of Swindon Postscript by Trevor
Colman, former police superintendent, Devon and Cornwall Constabulary
Political correctness has hi-jacked our freedom to discuss
one of the burning issues of the day - immigration. OverCrowded
Britain will inevitably be condemned by the politically-correct,
few of whom, Ashley Mote suggests, will bother to read it
first. Which is why he argues for a full, open and –
if necessary – controversial debate on immigration.
http://www.bnp.org.uk/shopping/excalibur/item.php?id=691
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