Stoking paranoia about migration

The gap between the reality of the Office of National Statistics quarterly migration statistics and the knee-jerkery of much of the media (and not just the tabloids) is as predictable as it is disturbing.

Here are some condensed facts.

Estimated total long-term emigration from the UK in the year to December 2009 was 371,000. This is 13% lower than the final estimate of 427,000 in the year to December 2008, and along with a 35 per cent increase in student visas (362,015 issued), bringing millions of pounds into the country, explains the rise in net migration in the latest figures. Meanwhile, total long-term immigration to the UK in the year to December 2009 was 567,000 compared with the final estimate of 590,000 in the year to December 2008 and at a similar level to that seen since 2004, when the A8 countries of central and eastern Europe joined the EU. There have additionally been sharp falls in the number people coming to work in Britain under the points-based immigration system. The number of temporary employment visas fell by 17 per cent to 66,495. There were half the number of Eastern European arrivals as compared to 2008. And there was a further fall in the number of asylum seekers coming to Britain, down from 25,930 in 2008 to 24,485.

And here are some headlines that bypass or contort these facts.

“Immigration up by a fifth?” (Telegraph), “Net migration double the government’s target” (BBC 10 O’Clock News), “Net immigration up 20% in year” (Sun), “Number of immigrants living in the UK long-term SOARS by 20%” (Mail), “UK Struggles With Net Increase In Immigration” (City News Post), “Rise in immigration adds 200,000 to British population” (This is London) and so on and so on…

Some of them don’t even know the difference between net migration and immigration, it seems.

Thankfully, there have been one or two honourable exceptions. A particular hat-tip to the Financial Times for “Immigration falls to lowest level since 2005″, and to the Guardian for their follow-up story: “Immigration cap will lead to skills shortages, say employers.”

Because the real issues of migration are not primarily about ‘the numbers game’. They are about global economic instability and change, multiple forced people movements, human rights abuses, war and displacement, massive income differentials, the denial of justice to Roma and other minorities, climate change refugees (which is set to be a huge concern) – and, of course, deep-seated prejudice and racism, as Vaughan Jones’ perceptive paper ‘Migration: Why a broader view is needed’ (http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/12034) makes clear.

America’s immigrants make it strong

By Joseph Nye

The Obama administration has criticised the law, church groups have protested that it is discriminatory, and a federal court has issued a temporary injunction, ruling immigration is a federal issue. Regardless of the outcome of the legal case, the Arizona law has proven to be popular in other states.

Read more

Prisons watchdog opposes detention of immigrants

The United Kingdom Border Agency should be stripped of its responsibility for detaining asylum seekers and illegal immigrants, the Chief Inspector of Prisons has said.

Dame Anne Owers, who for nine years has been the prisons watchdog, today warns of the conflict between the forced removal of failed asylum seekers and the proper care of detainees held in immigration custody.

Her call for a separation of roles comes after growing concern about the alleged brutal treatment of asylum seekers held in immigration removal centres before their return to their countries of origin. This week Dame Anne found that the Government’s newest immigration removal centre, Brook House, which opened last year, was “fundamentally unsafe”, and that both detainees and staff were victims of high levels of violence.

In an interview with The Independent, Dame Anne says that too many asylum seekers and illegal immigrants are being locked up in detention centres. But her greatest concern is for refugee children.

Read more

The New Immigration Agenda

Wednesday 21^st July 2010   9am to 5pm

Venue: London South Bank University

High profile speakers and leading experts in their respective field have been lined up for this conference.

The day-long conference will be concentrating on the developments in immigration, asylum and human rights law, policy and practice under the new government. It will also focus on the future of accreditation regulation and possible barriers to access to quality legal advice and representation for migrants and refugees.

There will be two keynote speeches and a mixture of plenary sessions and workshops. Delegates will have the opportunity to attend two workshops: one in the first round and one in the second round.

Key Themes:

• The future of accreditation and regulation
• The linkage between regulation, funding and quality
• The new appeals system
• The points-based system
• Earned citizenship
• Free movement in the EU

Key speakers so far confirmed:

• Mr Justice Nicholas Blake QC- President, Upper Tribunal, Immigration & Asylum Chamber
• Lin Homer- Chief Executive, UK Border Agency
• Hugh Barrett- Executive Director for Commissioning, LSC
• Suzanne McCarthy- Immigration Services Commissioner, OISC
• Alison Harvey- General Secretary, ILPA
• Caroline Slocock-, Chief Executive, Refugee & Migrant Justice
• Simon Cox, Barrister- Doughty Street Chambers

Who should attend?

• Immigration and asylum law practitioners (including advisers, solicitors and barristers)
• Legal, employment and educational advisers
• Policymakers and academics
• Government officials and NGOs
• Community and refugee groups
• Employers
• Students

6 CPD hours
The conference is accredited with 6 CPD hours by the Bar Standards Board and the Solicitors Regulation Authority and also qualifies for OISC regulated advisers to claim the same number of CPD hours.

Booking fees:
We are pleased to inform you that the booking fees have not increased from last year’s conference.
The fees include all materials, lunch and VAT.

Standard: £190
Concessionary: £125 – applies to employees of charities, social enterprises and full-time students. (Evidence of eligibility is required)

Special discount: £50 (only 25 places) – applies to employees of small charities and voluntary organisations with an annual income of less than £250,000 and non-wage earners in receipt of Jobseekers’ Allowance and Income Support.
Evidence of eligibility is required)

Please click here for the conference brochure and click here for the booking form in word.

Please e-mail conference@iasuk.org for any query or ring 0207 967 6044.

Barristers rally in support of Refugee Migrant Justice

We are barristers from different chambers across the UK. We call on the Ministry of Justice to ensure that the money owed by the Legal Services Commission to Refugee and Migrant Justice is paid immediately so that RMJ is able to continue to provide legal advice and representation to immigrants and asylum seekers. We support the early day motion (EDM 191) tabled by Caroline Lucas MP.

RMJ is a major charity and the UK’s biggest provider of specialist legal services to immigrants and asylum seekers. It now faces closure, because bureaucratic changes in the legal aid payments system have resulted in very long delays in paying it for work that it has done.

RMJ has a well-deserved reputation for providing good legal advice and representation to some of the most vulnerable members of our society, including torture victims, victims of trafficking and unaccompanied children who cannot be returned to their home countries. Its work is, in some cases, life-saving.

Full letter

Call for NI asylum seeker centre

A dedicated asylum seeker centre should be created in Northern Ireland, the Refugee Action Group has said.

Legal representation, health and other support must be available while people’s cases are assessed, a report from the group added.

Prison-style detention should end and be replaced by an open reception unit, the review added. Currently immigrants are sent to detention centres in Great Britain after being brought to a police station.

New long residence case

Free Movement – In the case of MD (Jamaica) & Anor v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2010] EWCA Civ 213 the Court of Appeal has dismissed two appeals against refusals under the long residence immigration rules.

In both cases the immigrants had short gaps in their lawful residence and had been refused under the ten years rule. One of them had a gap of just 38 days on one occasion. The Court followed a strict interpretation of the rules and also dismissed the appeals under Article 8, upholding the decisions of the tribunal below.

This is not the first time long residence has featured on this blog and in recent case law. UKBA have been changing their approach to the rules quite significantly over the last few years, scrapping a fairly generous policy then re-introducing a less generous version of it more recently. However, the Court of Appeal is quite clear: the rules mean what they say and to succeed under the rules the residence must be continuous and lawful.

Read more

How the media helps the BNP

The Guardian – There was a brilliant column by Johann Hari a few years ago about his experience of appearing on a Sky News programme hosted by newspaper columnist Richard Littlejohn. Having admitted he didn’t know how much an asylum seeker got in benefits, Littlejohn screeched at Hari: “It’s people like you who help the BNP!”

Now, you could be forgiven for thinking that the election of two MEPs would bring the BNP under closer scrutiny since last year. Surely the media glare would expose its nasty underbelly? The party’s deputy leader, Simon Darby, doesn’t seem to think so:

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Biometrics and surveillance will make life difficult for Immigrants

IRR – Biometrics and surveillance are set to make life virtually impossible for those without legal status here.

On 6 January 2010, skilled workers from outside the EU became the latest group to need a biometric identity card in order to extend their stay in the UK. This involves attending one of the dozen or so ‘biometric enrolment centres’ in the UK to have a digital photograph and ten digital finger scans taken. By 2011, the government aims that all foreign nationals over the age of 6, legally in the UK for more than six months, possess an identity card with digital photograph and fingerprints on it, together with details of the person’s conditions of stay, and the biometric ID card will be the official passport to employment and to services such as health, education and welfare benefits.

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Bishop’s Suspension Leave Asylum Seekers Exposed

Zimonline – The suspension of Methodist Bishop Paul Verryn exposes
thousands of African immigrants and refugees in the city to abuse and could
result in the government closing down their church sanctuary, human rights
groups dealing with refugees and asylum seekers said on Tuesday.

Verryn, who is well known across South Africa and beyond after turning his
Johannesburg Central Methodist Church into a sanctuary for refugees from
across Africa, was last week suspended from his position in the church on
allegations of breaching church rules pending disciplinary hearing on
February 8.

But rights activists say his suspension from the church – which offers
refuge to more than 3 000 immigrants from across Africa with the bulk of
them Zimbabweans – could make life more difficult for the foreigners who
continue to flock to the sanctuary.

Read more

“Bishop (Verryn) was the only man who stood firm for the rights of asylum
seekers and refugees,” South Africa Women’s Institute of Migration Affairs
(SAWIMA) executive director Joyce Dube told ZimOnline.

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