Socialist Resistance : SR43 - March 2007

Migrant rights

When did Alf Garnett become Home Secretary?

Terry Conway

There will be pilots in three NHS trusts using data from the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) to ensure that migrants who do not have the “right” to free care have to pay before receiving it. Workers in the NHS will be required to act as an arm of the immigration service.

The Liberal Democrats are not wrong in referring to Home Secretary John Reid as “impersonating Alf Garnett”.

The attack follows an announcement by Reid on March 7 that a clampdown has been launched targeting “foreigners [who] come to this country illegitimately and steal our benefits”.

The package of measures will include compulsory ID cards for non-EU nationals, and strengthening the powers of the immigration service. There is also to be a pilot scheme to send text messages to people reminding them not to overstay their visas!

More sinister, there will be pilots in three NHS trusts using data from the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) to ensure that migrants who do not have the “right” to free care have to pay before receiving it. Workers in the NHS will be required to act as an arm of the immigration service.

Nor are they the only group of workers who will be asked to act in that way. Other measures include:

 the creation of immigration crime partnerships between IND, local authorities, police, HM Revenue and Customs and local agencies to detect those here illegally and block benefits;

 regional partnerships with workplace enforcement teams from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and Department of Trade and Industry, to track down and punish unscrupulous bosses who exploit the system;

 joint work with local authorities to use fines of up to £20,000 against private sector landlords to tackle overcrowding - which builds on new search powers for IND through the UK Borders Bill;

 the creation of a watch list of illegal migrants that can be provided to other Government departments and agencies to deny access to services;

 reviewing how the driver licensing system can be used to identify and combat illegal immigration. This will include identifying those illegal immigrants applying for licences fraudulently, will be denied a licence and targeted for enforcement action;

 piloting how IND data can be used to prevent fraud against the financial services industry by illegal migrants who are likely to disappear.

And a comment from Bill Rammell, Minister of State for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education hated for his role in the cuts to English as a second language teaching, shows why this is likely to be an increasing issue for students:

“There are many positive benefits from inward migration, as the enforcement strategy recognises.

“International students bring very significant economic, social and cultural benefits to the UK. We warmly welcome genuine international students to this country. At the same time, we want to prevent abuse of the student route, by those who attempt to use it to enter the UK for other purposes - for example to work illegally.”

So you can come if you are rich - but otherwise don’t bother.

All of this means the March 31 conference called by No One Is Illegal in Liverpool could not be more timely and will provide an important opportunity to discuss how to respond, especially within the public sector trade unions, to these pernicious and racist measures.

Terry Conway is one of the editors of Socialist Resistance.

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