Boris ponders study into immigrant amnesty
Boris Johnson has said he is considering commissioning a study into the possibility of an amnesty for London’s estimated 400,000 illegal immigrants.
Speaking last night on Channel Four news the Mayor said he wanted to look at ways people who have been in the UK for a “very substantial period” could earn the right to stay and suggested “there might be some sort of financial obligations” that people would need to meet in order to qualify
However the Mayor appears to be at odds with his colleagues on the London Assembly. Last month Conservative Assembly Members voted against a motion calling for irregular migrants “who have been in the UK for many years” to earn UK citizenship.
The motion, proposed by Green Party AM Darren Johnson, called on the Mayor to join the Assembly in urging the UK Government to introduce “a one-off, time-limited, earned regularisation of suitable irregular migrants, many of whom live and work in London, which would allow those who have been in the UK for many years to be admitted to a two-year pathway to citizenship.”
At the time Labour members on the Assembly sought to embarrass the Tory AMs by playing up the fact that the BNP’s Richard Barnbrook had also voted against the motion.
Responding to Labour’s efforts Conservative AM Roger Evans told MayorWatch his group “believe the policy is unworkable without more details and stronger border controls to deal with the inevitable spike of people who would be tempted to follow the regularised migrants.”
Evans’s comments were echoed last night by Immigration Minister Phil Woolas who said the Mayor’s comments “might start with the best of intentions but will lead to more people traffickers making more money and exploiting more vulnerable individuals.”
On Friday Mayor Johnson and Assembly Chair Jennette Arnold hosted the first ever London-wide Citizenship ceremony at City Hall where they awarded a certificate and commemorative gifts to those taking their oath of allegiance.
Sure you have heard all the arguments before – here are some:
1. Boris does not have the power to grant amnesty to illegals – thank your god.
2. Effectively – this gives every illegal in the country amnesty – just travelling to London.
3. This is rewarding crime.
4. It encourages others to come here illegally in the hope of similar rewards.
5. These are the lowest paid and will require more in benefits than raised in tax.
6. …
All this and more is obvious.
The 1986 U.S. illegal alien amnesty for what was supposed to be 600,000 turned
out to be for over 3 million and even today
appeals are being made by illegals who
were qualified in 1986 but “forgot” to
apply. Now in 2008 there are between
20 to 30+million illegal aliens in the
USA ,with another 10-15 million
anchor babies born here.More are
preparing to come when” Obama gives
them amnesty” It is a major
challenge financially and demographically.
These are the people who marched in
our streets with signs saying
“we will not assimilate” “go back to europe”
, “you stole our land” ” no borders” and
“no human is illegal”
I can’t moan.. because I can’t help with the current situation on my own. It’s just getting worse.
Boris is doing something, rather than nothing (and moan). I understand it’s an EARNED AMNESTY so let’s not shift away from this. I hope it is also POINTS SYSTEM so only those who can inject, pay taxes, buy a house, buy from shops and save some clinging jobs. Besides, there are jobs available, only if you search for it and not wait for it to come to you.
To those who are against this… Can you think of a way how YOU can help with the situation?
I am “illigal” or am I,home office has been considering my case for the last 8 years,I have work during most of the time (illigaly) and have never been given any rights to to claim any benifits.Which I do not have any complaints of. My wife is British and so is my son ( 7 years old) however my daughter(13 years old) and I have not being given the chance to be regulised. I want to work and continue to provide for my family above the benifits we would recieve if we were allowed to. I can earn enough money to buy a house to pay my taxs, buy from high street shops clinng to my job,and I can safely say I would be in job within a fortnight of recieving the right to work. It would be great to work and know you can get paid for a days work and not look over your shoulder. I am a skilled tradesman and have the potetial to go all the way to Directorship. All i can do now is endure the credit crunch with me not working and my wife having to foot the bill. I am apart of the comunity I live in, my neighbours on either side of me count on the help i give them, both pensioners. I am member of a charity who raise the money to help other people, my family has lived in rented accomidation for the 8 and half years we have been in the country, My wife and I have been married for ten years and have been togther for 15years. So it sadens me when all of us are painted with the same brush. There are a majority of imigrants in my situation,ie imigrants who want to work an stand on they own two feet so BORIS BRING ON THE AMNERSTY.
The ‘Home Office’ should also accept responsibility that some people are termed ‘illegal’ because of their wrong and bias judgment and their unwillingness to correct it. this definitely puts an individual in a difficult position. Do they honestly consider the human right implications? If so, they can always accept the amnesty proposal which will stop them from spending so much money on monitoring these people and benefit from what they can offer. Also, to wipe the slate clean and do a much effective job on border control….or is that impossible? Accepting to grant amnesty today does not automatically mean it should be done every day.
Granting an amnesty does not mean all 700 thousand qualify. There would obviously be an applicantion form for this. I may be miss lead but I believe that 300 thousand of those applicantions are people in a smillar position to me and the UK Boarder control say the would have cleared this back log by 2011. That means paying civil servants for three years to do this and still have do deal with failed applications. The introduction of Identity cards, to imigrants, can help to reduce these problems. If for agrument sake I was the last one to be delt with, who is going to looks after my family in the interum, I can be deported but my kids and my wife cannot be. So would they prefer me to be on state benifit while we wait, so who pays that, who pays for my sickness local goverment taxs. I would have to move to a concil house. All this muliplied by 700 thousand adds up, which I would estimate at around £1.4billion a year reducing each year. These are only for the benifit given to us imgrants without adding the cost of the civil servants wages and benifits, so you do the maths. Where as this firgure could be paid into the goverment and state benifits.
to Gary Anderson:
Your arguments make absolutely no sense whatsoever and I suppose you must be a blind neo-nazi to think others will make sense of it.
On point “2″ u raised: Did you not read the article? He is proposing an EARNED amnesty for individuals here MORE THAN 4/5 YEARS!
Point 3: Since when is a person’s geographical location “a crime”?! “Illegal” does not equate “criminal”
Then the whole issue on benefits: the highest benefit claimants are Brits, not immigrants. Immigrants are industrious and proud by nature, shown by their higher employment rate and average income. Not because they steal jobs, but because they are willing to work (and for much less) and willing to work ungodly hours at very minimum wage. Without immigrants the UK will wilt. Nothing will get cleaned for one thing.
Well a good friend of mine has been in this country for 12 years now..and has been working all this time the HO knows this as he has send documentation to them for the last 8 or so years… He has paid all taxes and NI contributions and taking no benefits none what so ever…no he has also be told he has to leave… his kid grew up here and now is a teenager…so its people like this we need in the country who would benefit from amnesty…After almmost 8 years trying to regularise his stay for him and his kid the HO now decideds to tell him he is an overstayer and needs to leave where is the justice in that?????