Thread: U.K. Considers Amnesty for as Many as 570,000 Illegal Migran

U.K. Considers Amnesty for as Many as 570,000 Illegal Migrants

June 14 (Bloomberg) -- The U.K., faced with a 6.3 billion pound ($11.7 billion) bill to deport illegal immigrants as it prepares to roll out mandatory identification cards in four years, is considering an amnesty to legalize some workers.

Immigration Minister Liam Byrne ordered civil servants to prepare a report detailing issues surrounding an amnesty. The Home Office estimates that as many as 570,000 people may be living in the country illegally, and deporting each one costs 11,000 pounds.

``We are not going to be able to deport hundreds of thousands of people from the U.K.,'' Danny Sriskandarajah, an expert on immigration at the Institute for Public Policy Research, a London- based consultant that advises the government on policy, said today. ``Our economy would shrink. We would notice it in un- cleaned offices, dirty streets and un-staffed pubs.''

Union and church leaders praised the decision, saying illegal workers are being exploited. The opposition Conservative Party and anti-immigration groups including Migration Watch said an amnesty would attract more migrants and undermine Britain's immigration system after a sex-for-visas scandal and the Home Office's admission it released more than 1,000 foreign prisoners.

``With our borders so badly protected, even speculating about the possibility of an amnesty is highly irresponsible,'' said David Davis, a Conservative member of Parliament who speaks on domestic affairs. ``An amnesty could lead to a massive and uncontrolled increase in the numbers coming here.''

Britain's illegal migrant community, amounting to about 1 percent of the nation's 59 million people, is smaller than the 7 million people, or 2.5 percent of the population, working illegally in the U.S.

ID Cards

The issue has risen on the political agenda since Parliament passed a law in March making identification cards compulsory for U.K. residents beginning in 2010. Those cards are designed to make it more difficult to claim benefits or work in the U.K. without permission.

``It would be impractical and immoral to deport half a million workers,'' said Jack Dromey, head of the Transport & General Workers Union. ``The time has come for government to be brave, distinguishing between deporting the few who commit serious crimes and allowing undocumented workers to remain.''

Removing illegal workers would cost the government at least 4.7 billion pounds, and the Treasury would lose an additional 1 billion pounds in tax revenue, the Institute for Public Policy Research estimated.

Crackdown on Immigrants

In the past year, the Home Office cracked down on people who claim political asylum and worked to deport more people in the U.K. illegally. Home Secretary John Reid said on May 23 the current system was ``not fit for purpose'' and was failing to identify and track people in the country illegally.

``Our goal is to toughen our enforcement regime and so it is highly unlikely that there is any immediate prospect of an amnesty,'' Byrne said in a statement from the Home Office today. Speaking to Parliament yesterday, he said he needed ``more detail'' on the subject before making a decision.

Last year, Spain allowed 700,000 people working illegally in the country to get work permits, the biggest program of its kind across Europe in the past two decades. Belgium and Italy also have had similar programs.

Britain has avoided granting such blanket amnesties. Its biggest measure to legalize illegal workers was to allow people from 10 nations to work legally in the U.K. Included were Poland and the Czech Republic, which joined the European Union in 2004.

Past Programs

Workers migrating from eastern Europe have added 392,000 people to Britain's workforce since May 2004, the Home Office said last month. That helped push the number of people in work to a record 28.9 million in the quarter through March while the jobless rate rose to 5.2 percent from 4.8 percent two years ago.

In 2003, the Home Office cleared a backlog of asylum cases by allowing 23,000 families with four-year-old asylum claims to remain in the country. It rejected at least 25,000 applications under that program.

``The idea that the government could locate and deport up to a million illegal immigrants is absurd,'' said Nick Clegg, a lawmaker in the Liberal Democrat Party. ``We need to look constructively at the criteria by which we allow people to settle here permanently.''

David Blunkett, who served as Blair's Home Secretary between 2001 and 2004, said he ruled out an amnesty during his time in office because the nation had no way of identifying people who were in the country. He said an amnesty could only work with a system of identity cards, which under a law passed in March will become compulsory in the U.K. in 2010.

``It's impossible to have an amnesty without identity cards and a clean data base,'' Blunkett said in an interview on British Broadcasting Corp. radio today. ``What you can't do is announce an amnesty in advance of the date of the amnesty because obviously you act as a magnet.''

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... &refer=uk#

U.K. Considers Amnesty for as Many as 570,000 Illegal Migrants

Wow, a whopping 570,000. Be glad, very glad, you don't have a corrupt ridden Mexico next door! Interesting isn't it, America is not the only country harboring wimpy politicians that put self interest and a bleeding heart advocates above what is best for the country. Mark my words, give those 570,000 amnesty and you'll have 2.5 million to deal with in less than 5 years.

Blair has evidently been listening to Bush.
UK doesn't have to deport them. Just dispense with services, and impose fines wherever illegals are found, epecially heavy fines on employers.
And you certainly don't announce a possible amnesty before the fact. That's just plain stupid.