Freed to have another go at coming to Britain: French judges release 82 Calais migrants

French judges have ordered the release on human rights grounds of 82 migrants arrested at the Calais refugee camp known as the Jungle.

The rulings could free the migrants to make fresh attempts to sneak into Britain and risk exposing the pledge by French ministers to deport illegal migrants as a farce.

The mainly Afghan men and teenagers were among 278 migrants rounded up when armed police stormed their squalid woodland camp near the French port last week.

Around half were freed within 24 hours, while the remainder were taken hundreds of miles to secure detention centres across France.

But in a series of weekend hearings, courts began ordering some of them to be released because of 'irregularities in the conditions of their transportation and detention'.

A judge in Toulouse decided the 'collective arrests' meant human rights were breached by not considering the rights of each individual at the moment they were detained.

And a judge in Nimes ruled that the migrants' rights were breached because it took 20 hours to transport them to the southern city - denying them legal advice for almost half of the 48 hours for which they can be held before being charged.

In Nimes, 38 migrants could soon be freed, along with 30 in Toulouse, eight in Marseilles and six in Rennes. In most cases, prosecutors have appealed and further hearings will be held this week. The migrants remain in custody.

A judicial source in Marseilles said: 'The judges' decisions show a clear conflict emerging between the government's promise to deport illegal migrants from Calais, and the migrants' human right not be be detained.'

Although the Jungle was bulldozed, hundred of migrants are still sleeping rough in Calais.

After the arrests, immigration minister Eric Besson vowed on live television: 'There will be forced returns for people who have no right to asylum and who reject going home voluntarily.'

Besson's pledge was backed up by President Nicolas Sarkozy, who added: 'We will organise the return of people here illegally.'

Meanwhile, another group of Afghan migrants from the Jungle camp are thought to have escaped from a secure detention centre in Nancy and said to be heading 250 miles back to Calais on foot.

Pierre Henry, of French immgrants charity Terre d'Asile, said so far 43 people from the Jungle had claimed asylum in France.

But Calais abbot Jean-Pierre Boutoille, of the refugee charity C'Sur, said hundreds more, many from the jungle camp, were still sleeping rough in the town and plotting new ways to reach Britain. continues here

KEEP OUT, BRITAIN IS FULL UP

BRITAIN must not take in any of the migrants massing in France because the country is full, it was claimed last night.

French authorities yesterday finally destroyed the Calais shanty town, known as The Jungle, used by migrants as a launch-pad to Britain.

But Tory politicians urged them to act quickly to ensure those displaced from the newly cleared camp did not simply come straight to the UK.

Critics of yesterday’s operation said that while it was essential the five-year-old camp was knocked down, there seemed no proper plan in place to deal with the 1,000 or so Afghans or Iraqis left homeless.

While some reports said the French would use British taxpayers’ cash to offer the migrants financial incentives to go home, most experts believe they will simply disperse to smaller makeshift camps around the Calais docks and continue their attempt to enter Britain illegally.

Their attitude was summed up by one Afghan immigrant removed from The Jungle yesterday who said: “We’re determined to stay as close to the port as possible because it’s the way to England.

“Nothing will stop us getting there. We are all determined to start a new life in Britain.”

Conservative MP Philip Davies was among those insisting that France should take proper responsibility for the immigrants on its shores rather than pass on the burden to “full-up’’ Britain – but he feared it would not.

He said: “Asylum-seekers are supposed to be dealt with in the first place they come to. If France was fulfilling its international duties they would be dealing with these people.

“It is totally irresponsible to be trying to pass them on to us. Obviously both the French government and the asylum-seekers know how soft we are and that once people are here, however bogus their claims, they will never be kicked out again.

“But we’ve done more than our fair share. We can’t cope with the people we have. There is still a massive backlog of cases, people who have been here years. We need to put the ‘full’ sign up. France is a big enough country. They’ve got lots of room.” Richard Ashworth, Conservative MEP for South-east England, said: “It is now incumbent on the French to deal with illegal immigration at the point of entry and not simply funnel them through, creating this sorry bottleneck along the Pas de Calais and Normandy coasts.”

Sir Andrew Green, of MigrationWatch, said: “Simply closing the camp won’t work. We tried that with Sangatte. I think we have to get to the heart of this problem. We entirely support asylum for genuine cases but it seems Britain is now seen as a soft touch. That’s certainly what the French believe. Why else should people be queueing up in Calais when France is a safe country?”

Yesterday’s raid on The Jungle began at dawn when 500 police officers in dozens of vans and accompanied by bulldozers began circling the wooded waste ground a few hundred yards from the ferry port. In total 278 were arrested and 132 of these claimed they were under 16. All were male. Many more had disappeared overnight, moving to other parts of Calais where they will continue to plan their journeys to Britain in the back of lorries or trains.

The Refugee Council demanded that Britain accept some of the migrants, particularly children, with family connections in the UK.

But immigration minister Phil Woolas said: “These people have no rights to claim asylum in the UK. Indeed, we would question whether they were genuine asylum-seekers.

“If they were fleeing persecution, they have the right to claim asylum in the first country of entry.”

Home Secretary Alan Johnson praised the “swift, decisive” clearing of the site by French authorities.

But he said Britain had ruled out taking the migrants and urged genuine refugees to apply for asylum in the country where they entered the EU, rather than trying to cross the Channel illegally. Groups representing those displaced criticised the French action, saying it would solve nothing. continues here

'Britain-obsessed' asylum seekers should be let into UK at earliest convenience, says Europe's Justice Commissioner

Europe's Justice Commissioner will today demand a change in the law to allow 'Britain-obsessed' asylum seekers into the UK at their earliest convenience.

Jacques Barrot, a former French minister, believes the reform would assist migrants who are sleeping rough in Calais, waiting for a chance to enter Britain.

This includes hundreds who will be evicted this week from the notorious 'Jungle' squat in the town, which riot police plan to destroy.

Under current law the asylum seekers should be sent back to the country where they entered the EU. 'Most of us are used to being moved on, so we are ready to adapt. We will find a place close to the ferry port so that we can keep trying to get to England.'

But, referring to a proposal which would allow foreigners to claim asylum in any EU country they want, Mr Barrot said: 'In order for the closure of the Jungle to make sense, it is necessary to share the burden between France and Great Britain.

'There should be a solidarity within the EU over asylum.

'National solutions to the problem are not viable.

'The people who are in Calais have crossed Europe and have one obsession - to get to Great Britain.

'With the modification of the current system, we should be able to convince the British to consider the claims of the asylum seekers who are stuck in the Jungle, because they have family links with the UK, or the ability to integrate thanks to the communities of their compatriots (in the UK).'

His proposal will be discussed by European interior ministers today.

His comments follow the announcement last week that the Jungle - an area full of migrants' improvised shelters - would be razed to the ground this week, in a bid to make Calais 'watertight' to the 2,000-odd asylum seekers in the area who want to enter Britain.

Mr Barrot said the migrants in Calais who already have family or large compatriot communities in the UK, should be allowed to enter.

The United Nations have also called for Britain to accept some of the migrants from the Jungle.

A UK Border Agency spokesman said: 'People seeking asylum should do so in the first safe country they come to. Those not in need of protection will be expected to return home.'

High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said the British government should be prepared to allow migrants with large families already in the UK to enter the country.

The fact that illegal migrants can only claim asylum in the first EU country they come to has offered huge protection to the UK as it tries to stem the tide of those drawn by generous welfare benefits and jobs in the black economy.

The rule dates from 1997, when Tony Blair agreed them at a summit in Dublin. Before then, however, illegal immigrants could be returned directly to the country from which they entered Britain - usually France.

But with both the European Commission and United Nations calling for a change in the law, thousands could soon be allowed to make straight for the UK.

Mr Barrot, Brussels is a member of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's ruling UMP party.

He made his comments about Britain's asylum system to French journalists in Calais prior to Monday's meeting.

Any further influx of asylum seekers under his plan would come at a time when asylum applications to the UK are already rising.

Recent Home Office figures show that a total of 25,930 asylum applications - excluding dependents - were made to come to Britain last year, compared with 23,430 in 2007. Around one in seven claimants is granted the right to stay.

It came as migrants due to be evicted from the 'Jungle' shanty town began setting up alternative camps from where they will continue to plan their illegal journeys to Britain.

Calais mayor Natacha Bouchart, a member of France's ruling UMP Party, said: 'Hundreds of migrants have already disappeared from the Jungle, but we're aware of a multiplication of squats in the centre of town.'

The Jungle, an area of wasteland full of improvised shelters, kitchens and even a mosque close to the town's ferry port, currently houses around 800 men and women who want to claim asylum in Britain or disappear into the black economy.

They play a nightly game of cat and mouse with the police as they try to board lorries and trains heading for Dover.

Police sources in the town have confirmed that CRS riot control officers supported by soldiers would move in to the camp, the largest of many, with batons and flame throwers on Tuesday, the day after Ramadan ends.

'Many of those living in the camp are Muslims from countries like Afghanistan and Iraq who want to get to Britain,' said one senior officer.

'We don't want to offend them by approaching the camp during Ramadan.'

But the local authorities confirmed the announced closure of the camp was simply moving the problem to a different area.

Some 350 CRS riot police had flooded into the area around The Jungle in preparation for its destruction.

'Our orders are to maintain a watching brief until it is time to move in,' said one officer waiting in a patrol vehicle with five others continues here

EDITOR'S Comment: The nationalist position is thus, all immigration would be stopped and a plan of humane repatriation begun, some will immediately jump to the defence of migrants, asylum-seekers and others, screeching about “human rights”, however, none of them, none at all have ever considered our, “human right”, to a country our own. They flood us, swamp us and alter wholly our countries and never consider us, instead we must, because we have built up an infrastructure, crafted a culture and amassed resource, we must share it with those that have not contributed, because to do so is not fair.

What about our “human rights”, our right to live as we have always done, for our children to have the chance of employment, for our traditions and our culture to predominate not subverted by those that oppose them. Certainly those migrants have “human rights”, yet it is not we, the common people that have created their plight, it is capitalism and its attendant evils that blight their countries of origin. Nationalism holds that capitalism will be harnessed to the peoples will, not to the banker or the web of world finance, nationalism states, that men of all colours, shall live in freedom and none shall live off their labour.

Yet in order to fix the world one must face facts, step away from this confounded lie and state loudly, no more!, no more immigration, no more acceptance of the parasite, the seeker of another’s wealth, our children, our people, our own, for a change, yet many live with guilt, why we were terrible in the past, slavery, empire and so forth, yet slavery has nothing, absolutely nothing to do with us and all to do with capitalism, the same empire, capitalism sought to profit and so it exploited indigenous peoples and indeed enlisted soldiers, sent to protect the stolen gains. Lest not forget, that those soldiers were as much owned as any slave, once the shilling was taken, orders could not be refused, we see an example today, as again our young men ,denied a living are send abroad to fight in a war for the avaricious.

Yet again cannon-fodder, yet again used and all they receive is conflict there and hate at home, not for them or indeed their families, mass profit, merely horrific fear, potential death or perhaps loss of limb .Today again our young have no choice, no jobs for them and again propaganda, many join and many die, yet our brave soldiers are in the wrong place, under a nationalist government they would not be in Afghanistan fighting a war for the agenda-makers, not risk their all for evil, under nationalism, they would police our borders, defend our interests not that of finance. Oh and well-kitted they’d be, well paid and well-loved, not dying due to lack of equipment, not maimed and heckled on wards, this then a land fit for heroes, a land fit for them.

Still talk is talk and in the real world you the people vote against your own interest, you malign nationalism and understand it not, so the flood will never cease, never stop, workers are needed for the agenda and in this colour is no bar. Can you not see, even now, the truth of our words, our warnings reverberating through time, ringing through the years and still you block your ears, “their human rights”, what about yours and better yet your children’s, what about your human rights, the right to a homeland, to tradition, to freedom and indeed in very many cases, to life, its time to close the door, start repatriation and regain our country, because we have no choice and it is our turn to have our “human rights” considered.

Britain faces fresh influx of immigrants as EU looks to 'share out' number of refugees

Britain will be asked to accept thousands more refugees as part of Brussels moves towards a single immigration and asylum policy across the EU.

Plans for a 'Joint EU Resettlement Programme' will see Britain asked to take in thousands of extra refugees a year from war zones like Somalia and Sudan.

In a bid to reduce public concern about the cost of the project, Britain will be offered €4,000 (£3,500) for every refugee it accepts.



The project, launched by the EU's vice-president Jacques Barrot today, is widely seen as the first part of a Brussels blueprint to roll out a common immigration and asylum policy across the EU.

Later this month the European Commission will publish plans for immigration 'burden sharing', which could see asylum seekers landing in EU countries like Italy and Malta moved to the UK.

The Commission today said this was a 'pressing issue' for the EU.

Draft documents from the European Commission state that the EU's international image is suffering because of the 'relatively low' number of refugees accepted by member states.

Last year the EU accepted 6.7 per cent of the 65,596 refugees who were legally resettled around the world.

The Commission did not set a public target for the new programme today, but a Brussels source said the figure should be 'much closer to 20 per cent'.

Mr Barrot said more than 200,000 refugees were likely to need resettlement next year, mostly from poor countries bordering war zones.

He urged the EU to make itself a 'model of humanity' and demonstrate 'concrete solidarity with third countries hosting large numbers of refugees'.

If the EU were to accept 20 per cent that would equate to 40,000 refugees a year. Britain's share, based on population, would be about 5,300.

Shadow Immigration Minister Damian Green said it was vital that the UK kept control of the total number of immigrants entering the country, rather than handing power to Brussels.

He said co-operation on dealing with refugees should depend on other EU countries helping to stop the flow of illegal immigrants to Britain.

Mr Green said: 'There is nothing wrong with trying to plan the numbers of successful refugees - anything would be better than the chaos Britain's system has suffered in recent years.

'But Britain could only take part if we had control of the numbers arriving here under the scheme, and if other countries cooperate more in preventing the build-up of asylum seekers at Calais.'

Stephen Booth, of the think tank Open Europe, said handing over control of immigration and asylum policy risked creating a public backlash.

He added: 'Asylum policy is a sensitive issue for the public and national governments therefore need to be clear and open about where EU asylum policy is heading in order to avoid a backlash from their citizens.'

Britain is one of only 10 EU countries to operate a formal refugee resettlement programme.

Over the last five years the UK has accepted 2,500 refugees on top of the number coming in through the wider immigration and asylum system. continues here

One out of every five killers is an immigrant

Up to a fifth of killers in England and Wales are foreign, police figures suggest. Out of 371 individuals accused or convicted of murder or manslaughter last year, 79 were from abroad - more than 21 per cent.

Foreign immigrants make up only around a tenth of the UK population, meaning they are statistically twice as likely as native Britons to be charged with or found guilty of an illegal killing. Foreign immigrants make up only around a tenth of the UK population, meaning they are statistically twice as likely as native Britons to be charged with or found guilty of an illegal killing...

In London, almost 40 per cent of those in such cases in the past year were from overseas, or of unknown origin.

Opposition critics said the findings reflected the Government's failure to deport foreign criminals, and the ease with which offenders from abroad can slip through border controls.

The most common nationality for foreigners involved in murder and manslaughter cases was Polish, followed by Nepalese, Lithuanian, Somalian and Sri Lankan.

Around half the police forces across England and Wales provided data under the Freedom of Information Act, revealing strong regional differences.

The highest figures were in London where in the year to April 2009, 93 of the 233 people accused or convicted of murder and manslaughter were either non-British or from unknown backgrounds.

In West Mercia, five out of 22 were foreigners - 23 per cent - from Lithuania, Poland, and the Republic of Ireland. Nottinghamshire showed the same proportion, with three out of 13 cases.

But some forces - including Cheshire, Humberside, Hampshire, and Merseyside - recorded no cases with foreign killers. The figures may be an underestimate as 11 out 30 forces which responded claimed they did not record nationalities of either killers or murder victims, and others had gaps in the information.

As foreign suspects are typically harder to identify and trace, meaning that crimes are less likely to be solved, the real proportion could be significantly higher.

The figures showed foreigners were also more likely to be victims of murder or manslaughter, accounting for 20 per cent of all those killed in England and Wales in 2007-8, and 13 per cent last year.

Concerns about convicted offenders entering Britain were underlined in April by the case of Marek Harcar, 33, who was sentenced to a minimum 25 years in jail for the abduction, rape and murder of businesswoman Moira Jones.

Slovakian Harcar was allowed into Britain despite having 13 convictions, four of them involving violence. He abducted the 40-year-old just yards from her home on May 28 last year. Her semi-naked body was found in Queen's Park in Glasgow the next day.

Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said: 'The Government seem to have completely failed to get to grips with foreign nationals' crime in the UK.

'These figures underline the scale of the problem, but we know the Government are simply failing to deport offenders in the way they should be.' continues here

Revealed: The areas of Britain where there are more migrants chasing jobs than locals

The true extent of the huge influx of foreign workers into Britain is revealed in an investigation by the Daily Mail.

In some parts of the UK there are more migrants searching for jobs than native Britons - even at this time of soaring unemployment.

Nearly three quarters of a million National Insurance Numbers (NINOs), a prerequisite for getting employment, were handed out to foreign nationals last year.



The figure exposes as a sham the New Labour pledge of 'British jobs for British workers'.

While a NINO can be used to access social benefits, most newcomers from abroad are not eligible for these payouts and use the number only to seek work. Therefore, it gives a highly accurate estimate of foreigners entering the job market.

The number of migrants receiving NINOs rose by more than a fifth in some areas in 2008.

Of the 733,000 given out, 30 per cent went to Poles, 10 per cent to arrivals from the Indian sub-continent, and 5 per cent to Romanians and Lithuanians.

The jobs crisis is intensifying as more migrants arrive to find work and are prepared to accept lower wages than locals.

They are often more enthusiastic in their search for employment, travelling the country searching for poorly paid jobs, such as fruit picking or night factory work, that Britons are less willing to do.

However, in many areas migrants and British nationals are in direct competition for exactly the same jobs.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: 'The fact that so many British people are allowed to choose welfare rather than hard work meant that when our borders opened up, there were lots of vacancies for foreign labour.

'Now times are tougher, those jobs are disappearing and the British workers who do want jobs have been left competing with overwhelming numbers of migrants.

'If we are going to get more British people working then we need firm border controls and tougher welfare rules so no one can just sit back and be featherbedded on benefits and not bother to look for a job.'

In London, 272,000 overseas nationals received NINOs in the year up to December 2008. Eight months on and the figure is estimated to have topped 350,000. The newcomers are competing for work against almost exactly the same number - 359,000 - of job-seeking Londoners.

In Westminster 12,070 foreigners have been given NINOs, twice as many as the number of locals searching for work. It is a similar story in Haringey, Brent, Tower Hamlets and Ealing.

The picture is repeated in other parts of Britain. In Edinburgh, Oxford and Slough, for instance, far more foreigners are chasing work than Britons.

In more provincial areas, such as the agriculture hotspot of Peterborough, there are almost equal numbers of foreigners and locals in the jobs race.

Even in the resort of Bournemouth, where thousands of jobs are available during the summer tourist season, migrants have received 4,200 NINOs while nearly 4,000 local people want employment.

The total number of UK unemployed rose 250,000 in the three months to June to the highest level for a decade or more. The jump to 2.5million comes as businesses continue to close or cut their staff in the face of the deep recession.

Nearly 1.6million are job-seekers while the remainder are deemed to be 'economically inactive'.

Meanwhile, seven out of ten jobs created under New Labour have been taken by foreign workers, the highest proportion in any of the major economies analysed recently by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Companies are continuing to hire more migrants even though the British jobless toll rises by almost 3,000 a day, according to a survey by the accountants KPMG and the Chartered Institute of Personnel.

The Mail's map is based on information from each local authority based on two sets of official figures.

The first is the total in each area of National Insurance Numbers given to adult overseas nationals entering the UK during 2008. seven out of ten jobs created under New Labour have been taken by foreign workers...

The second set of figures is the claimant count for each local authority area in July, compiled from Government statistics released last week.

A claimant is a person on job-seekers' allowance who is actively trying to find employment. Newly arrived foreigners cannot get this payout.

This, therefore, gives a fair picture of the numbers of local people in each area wanting to work.

Yesterday Sir Andrew Green, of Migrationwatch UK, said the consequences were severe for British workers.

'It seems that during this recession, employers are more willing to hire and keep on migrants because they are perceived to be cheaper and to work harder. Meanwhile, the local people are let go first,' he said.

'Firms get foreigners to work for buttons'

The Mail talked to people in Peterborough, London and Bournemouth about the difficult jobs market.

In Peterborough, cafe baker Marcin Kubiak, 26, who left Poland six months ago, said: 'I was sure I would get a job here because I was prepared to do anything. There are opportunities but you have to search for them.'

Yet Matthew Kirton, 24, says he can't find a job in the same city. 'I have applied for ten in the last fortnight, including one at the huge Tesco distribution warehouse which mainly employs Polish-people, but have not had a reply. Employers get immigrants to work for buttons.'

In London, Ciobanu Mihai, 27, arrived from Romania in 2008. He earns £300 a week on a Westminster building site and says: 'I think we foreigners work harder than the British.'

But 18-year-old waitress Jade Boam, who was born in Westminster, says she has tried everything to get a full-time job.

'The migrant workers should be stopped from coming here. In the cafes where I work nobody can believe there is an English girl serving. Normally this kind of job goes to foreigners because they are cheaper.'

In Bournemouth, spray painter James Wills, 22, has been jobless since October. 'I'd be happy to work hard in a warehouse or a building site, anything really.

'I feel if there were fewer foreign workers I would have got a job by now.

' continues here

Firms still looking to hire migrants even as unemployment hits 14-year high of 2.4million

Companies are planning to hire more migrant workers even as Britain's jobless toll rises by almost 3,000 a day, a new survey shows.

Figures today reveal unemployment has increased by a further 220,000 to a 14-year high of 2.435million.

The number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance increased by 24,900 in July to 1.58 million - its worst level for more than 12 years, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

This marks the 17th month in a row where the so-called claimant count has increased in the UK.

There was further grim news from The Bank of England, which forecast today that the economy would shrink by around 5.5% at the lowest point this year before beginning its recovery.

The Bank's inflation report said the recession "appeared deeper than previously estimated" but pointed to "encouraging signs" that its unprecedented monetary stimulus was taking effect.



Despite the jobless rise, nearly one firm in 12 aims to take on immigrants because they cannot find suitably qualified Britons, according to the report by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and accountants KPMG.

The survey shows that 8 per cent of employers intend to recruit migrant workers in the third quarter of 2009.

Some bosses said this is because they find migrants more 'hardworking and reliable', while others said they tend to be better qualified.

This comes after official figures showed the number of non-UK nationals in employment increased in the first quarter of 2009 while the number of UK nationals fell. The survey undermines controversial claims by Gordon Brown that he wants 'British jobs for British workers'.

The CIPD said Labour was failing to ensure that large sections of the British-born population have the right skills to compete in the jobs market. Gerwyn Davies, public policy adviser at the CIPD, said: 'The best way to provide "British jobs for British workers" is to make Brits better equipped to compete in the jobs market rather than raise barriers to skilled migrants.

'Most are recruited and retained by employers because they provide skills or attitudes to work in short supply among the homegrown workforce.'

Economist Howard Archer, of IHS Global Insight, said the jobless pain will be particularly acute for young UK school and university leavers. He forecasts unemployment will peak at 3.2 million next year.

'Even if the economy does return to growth in the third quarter, activity is still unlikely to be strong enough for some considerable time to come to prevent further net job losses,' he said. Lord Mandelson admitted that unemployment levels were "unacceptable" but the Business Secretary insisted that even more people would be out of work if the Tories had been in power during the recession.

The peer said: "One thing I and the Government know is that any such level of unemployment is unacceptable.

"The question is, what is the Government doing about it, and what would be the level of unemployment if the Government had not intervened in the economy in the way in which we have?" continues here

UK FACES A NEW FLOOD OF MIGRANTS WARNS WATCHDOG

BRITAIN faces a colossal wave of immigration over the next 40 years because of predicted population explosions in Africa and Asia, a report warns today.

The influx would send the country’s population soaring well over 77million unless radical action is taken to tighten border controls, experts say. Whitehall officials last night dismissed the research

Countries including China, India, Nigeria and Pakistan could see their populations rise by almost a third – and there could be a steep rise in asylum seekers from places such as Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Congo and Somalia.

The disturbing warning comes today from the population think tank, Migrationwatch.

Using demographic forecasts from the United Nations, the report warns that populations will rise by nearly a third in countries where significant numbers of people hope to come to the UK. Such an influx would have a huge impact on schools, hospitals, housing and transport in Britain.

“Five countries account for about half of the visa applications to the UK,” said the report.

“In 2006/07, China, India, Nigeria, Pakistan and the Russian Federation were the source of 1.22million applications of the 2.8million received worldwide. In 2005, their combined population was 2,890million. By mid-century, it is projected to reach 3,728million, an increase of 29 per cent.”

Migrationwatch warned that the population increases were bound to lead to an increase in visa applications to the UK from such countries.

The report added: “The top 10 source countries for asylum seekers are Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Zimbabwe, China, Somalia, Pakistan, North Korea and Sir Lanka. The population of these countries now comes to 1,662million. By mid-century, it is projected to reach 2,090million, an increase of 26 per cent.”

The UN says Britain’s population could rise from 60million in 2005 to 77million in 2050. At the same time, population levels are expected to decline in Eastern Europe, the main source of migration to Britain within the EU.

“The population of the 10 new Eastern European members is expected to decline by 2060, by 8 per cent in the case of the Czech Republic ranging to 28 per cent in Bulgaria,” the report said.

Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migrationwatch, said: “Looking ahead, the real problems for immigration control will come from the developing world.

“Many of the countries with the highest projected birth rates also have the lowest income per capita, so coming to the UK will be seen as an extremely attractive option, which large numbers can be expected to take. It is no longer good enough for politicians to sweep this issue under the carpet and try to pretend it’s not a suitable subject for debate because things are likely to get more difficult in the future.” continues here

BRITAIN’S SUCH A SOFT TOUCH SAY THE PEOPLE SMUGGLERS

CRIMINALS are convinced that Britain’s border controls are “soft” and that police are tolerant of the vice trade, according to a Home Office report that was kept secret for three years.

the UK was regarded as having a “liberal” policy towards migrants and asylum seekers. A series of interviews with convicted sex traffickers and people smugglers in British jails revealed that they were lured here by the “healthy profits” to be made from cross-border crime.

The foreign inmates boasted that sneaking illegal immigrants and sex-slave prostitutes into Britain was “relatively easy” and carried a “low risk of detection”.

The research, carried out in 2006, was finally released yesterday in a report entitled: Organised immigration crime – a post-conviction survey.

Its publication provoked a massive row, as critics claimed the disturbing findings had been suppressed.

Tory immigration spokesman Damian Green questioned why the report had “only been made public today”.

He said: “It is a sad fact that people engaged in the dreadful crime of human trafficking do find our borders relatively easy to cross.

“This is one of the reasons a Conservative government would introduce a specialist Border Police Force, so that around the world criminals would know that we were toughening up Britain’s borders.”

Sir Andrew Green, chairman of the population think tank Migrationwatch, said: “This report lifts the lid on how our border controls are perceived by those who they are meant to deter.”

Home Office researchers interviewed 45 prisoners in British jails, all convicted of people smuggling or trafficking offences during 2005. The report said: “The picture presented by the perpetrators was of a market that conferred healthy profits with a low risk of detection.”

Traffickers said the UK was regarded as having a “liberal” policy towards migrants and asylum seekers. They said potential profits from trafficking into the UK were “considerable” and outweighed the risks. continues here

British jobs for foreign workers: Experts reveal 70% of new jobs taken by migrants

More than seven out of ten jobs created under the Labour Government have been taken by foreign-born workers, experts revealed last night.

The percentage of new jobs taken by those born overseas is the highest of any of the major economies analysed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The Conservatives said it was yet more evidence that the Government had failed to deliver 'British jobs for British workers'.ministers have continued to hand out work permits to non-EU nationals in record numbers...

The internationally-respected OECD said that in the first ten years of Labour rule, employment rose by around two million jobs.

But it said 'almost 1.5million of this was accounted for by persons born abroad' - 71 per cent of the total.

In the U.S., immigrant employment accounted for 58 per cent of new jobs. In France, it made up less than 20 per cent of the total, and in Ireland and Australia less than 30 per cent.

Over a ten-year period, only Luxembourg saw more of its new jobs taken by migrant workers, the OECD said.

Tory immigration spokesman Damian Green said: 'Yet another of Gordon Brown's soundbites has proved to be false. This Government has created British jobs for foreign workers and all his pledges about new job creation are shown to be bogus.'

Around a third of the migrant workers arrived here on controversial intra-company transfers, the OECD said.

The system allows international companies to transfer their staff to the UK for supposedly limited periods.

But the companies did not have to advertise the post in the UK first and staff can stay for up to three years, plus a possible two-year extension after which they can apply for settlement.

The OECD figures cover the period from March 1997 to March 2007. But, since then, ministers have continued to hand out work permits to non-EU nationals in record numbers.

In 2008, as the country slid into recession, 151,635 were issued. The document lets non-EU workers take or keep jobs here, despite hundreds of thousands of Britons losing theirs.

Unemployment rose by 290,000 from December 1, 2007 to November 30, 2008, to reach 1.92million.

In 2007, when the economy was growing, 129,700 work permits were approved. In 1997, the year Labour came to power, 42,800 were handed out.continues here

There we have it, yet will you, the tax-payer, the provider, still vote for these reprehensible parties, for make no mistake, a government under the conservatives will make no change, as we live and breathe they are robbing us and our children. Vast portions of the country are blighted by poverty, unemployment and crime, pensioners who have paid into the system all of their adult lives now face penalisation, as the government betray them and steals from them in their twilight years. On the other end of the scale, the young face a truly horrific future, denied jobs and housing, forced to live amongst alien elements and discriminated against by their own government, its time for change, isn’t it?

I would ask readers to investigate nationalism, to discover what it offers for you the people; I would hope that once you have discovered its true stance not that offered up by the owned press, government funded front organisations and other thugs that you will help to overthrow this tyranny. As they plundered the public purse, they invited just about anybody else to do the same, reading the duplicitous press, one is given to understand, that it is merely eastern Europeans that arrive here to rob us blind, regrettably that dear reader is but the tip of the iceberg.

Many eastern Europeans still adhere to white culture, hold a terrific work ethic and proclaim a traditionalist outlook in religious affairs, this makes them fair game for the press, fair game for the liars and shapers within what passes for the journalistic profession, is it any wonder that the printed press is dying, any wonder when one can for now, find truth online. Unfortunately the internet is a limited tool, its capabilities far and away overrated, certainly information is there should one look for it, however, it is mixed up with other information, that put out by cranks, fools, idiots and of course state sponsored propaganda is ever-present.

A major draw-back is that the fight against this tyranny, ongoing now for some time, has retreated from public view and nationalism, once prevalent within working-class communities is now a spent, warped or indeed forgotten cause. Today no organisation lays claim to true nationalism, no organisation adheres to traditional concepts today nationalism must speak only to a limited audience. To my mind there must be a true organisation, an organisation that adheres to nationalist principle that will not place emphasis upon divisive, archaic, superfluous nonsense, the origins of which, lie with the self-same alien elements that poison our nation today.

Further, any organisation that speaks for the people must hold a race-realist outlook, yet be willing to fight evil in any quarter, for it must always be remembered, that non-whites are merely a tool, a way in which the state can silence nationalistic opposition. Should real nationalism ever grow again, should this hypothetical organisation appear then it must consider Islam as it would any alien ideology, it must resist temptation to pander to raving Jewry, resist the temptation to follow the agenda.

Currently any immigration on a mass scale is detrimental, of course non-white immigration threatens on many levels, yet even mass white immigration bodes ill, we simply cannot support any more and they the political elite, the chattering classes and misguided or malicious egalitarians, will not give us peace.

MIGRANTS OFFERED WORK IN TOWN WITH RISING JOBLESS

RESIDENTS are furious at moves to offer more than 240 jobs to eastern European workers near a town where unemployment is soaring.

The agricultural workers from Romania and Bulgaria will be housed in 41 caravans on a huge site which will boast “college campus-style” recreation.

They will also enjoy free bus trips to nearby towns and free bicycle hire to get to shops and pubs, all provided by the vegetable farm at Wrangle, near Boston, Lincolnshire.

The area is already home to up to 12,000 migrant farm labourers, mostly from Portugal and Poland, while local unemployment is at a 12-year high.“I am getting to the stage where I don’t like going into town because I never hear anyone speaking English. It’s very intimidating.”

Earlier this week more than 600 people besieged a shop in Boston which was offering 25 jobs.

Resident Amanda Thomas said: “I am not against foreign workers coming over here, but just how many more can the town take? We are bursting at the seams.

“I am getting to the stage where I don’t like going into town because I never hear anyone speaking English. It’s very intimidating.”

Jobless Andy Pearson, 46, said: “Why do we need these foreign workers? I know in the past a lot of people turned their noses up at these sort of jobs. It’s hard work and not very well paid, that’s why all the farmers started getting foreigners in. But times have changed. If they advertised these jobs locally they’d get some takers.”

The company at the centre of the row, Staples, grows brassicas on 9,000 acres.

Boston Borough Council approved its scheme after the firm’s managing director, Vernon Read, said he could not rely on finding enough local labour.

Mr Read was unavailable for comment yesterday. continues here

Hundreds of illegal immigrants armed with knives and crowbars swarm round Calais trucks heading for Britain By Tom Rawstorne

Just half a mile from the ferry terminal in Calais, a UK-bound lorry driver at the weekend makes the mistake of slowing down to a crawl on the A26 Autoroute des Anglais dual carriageway.

At a signal from their fixers, around 100 illegal migrants arise from the wooded verge where they have been concealed and try to swarm aboard the vehicle, and others behind, desperate to find somewhere inside or underneath they could stow away to reach the UK.

So intent are they to get to what they see as a land of easy asylum, council housing and generous benefits that they risk being crushed by the trucks' wheels. Some carry crowbars or knives to try to prise open a chink in the lorries' defences.



This time the traffic speeds up again and none gets aboard. The migrants melt back into the woodland to await the next chance of an ambush.

In a nearby industrial area, on the Rue des Garennes, a dozen stowaways were discovered last week hiding inside an empty tanker.

Workers were about to fill it with concentrated sulphuric acid when they heard muffled cries coming from within. Another few seconds and the migrants, Afghans and Kosovans, would have been horribly burnt to death.

It's just another week in the relentless assault on Britain's borders.

Farther along the Rue des Garennes, at a truckers' cafe the owner is at his wits' end. He has had knives pulled on him so many times by the clandestines, as they are known in these parts, that he is ready to throw in the towel altogether.

Other businessmen have already done so. The caravan showroom is now boarded up, while a yard once piled high with second-hand pallets lies empty - stripped bare by the migrants.

The problems along this nondescript street are down to geography. It backs on to an area of open land where the people of Calais used to take the air, to walk their dogs, to picnic in the summer.

Not any more. Today it is a no-go zone known simply as The Jungle - a sprawling shanty town that grows by the day and which has become the latest focus in this sorry and seemingly unending saga.

Far from going away, this situation just over 20 miles from Britain is deteriorating fast.

It is estimated that in excess of 1,000 immigrants are living rough around Calais, 400 or so of them in The Jungle.



They all want to get to Britain and in recent months their numbers have swollen. More worrying still is the growing desperation they exhibit in their attempts to cross the Channel.

'The migrants have changed attitude in the past few months,' observes Dominique Vanneste, director of Tioxide. 'They've become a lot more aggressive. Staff are regularly attacked and threatened with iron bars. There have even been death threats.'

It is something that businessman Chris Wood knows only too well.

The 63-year-old is a public school-educated Englishman who, by a quirk of fate, finds himself in the very heart of the chaos.

Twenty years ago he set up his wholesale business, Eurostop, selling beer and wine to French hypermarkets. His offices and warehouses are on the Rue des Garennes and just happen to be the closest buildings to The Jungle.

In recent months he has seen business plummet as truckers, fearful of stopping lest immigrants board their lorries, boycott the area.

On an hourly basis young men stroll across his property in groups of 20 and more.

Ask them to move on and at best they will grudgingly comply, at worst respond with cut-throat gestures or volleys of rocks and stones.

'In the past, we used to just have the odd guy camping out the back, but we never really noticed it,' says Mr Wood. 'Then all of a sudden it has escalated and then escalated some more.

'Whether there are fewer people successfully getting through to Britain, causing a backlog, or whether more people are coming in I don't know, but it certainly has got much worse. The situation has exploded - people say that something really bad is going to unfold. I hope it doesn't, but you fear the worst.'

Unlike the neighbouring businesses, there isn't much on Mr Wood's sprawling premises that can be easily stolen. But that's because everything that could be taken has already gone.



A corner of the yard is rented out to AS24, a petrol station. It has four pumps on the site which are unmanned, automatic and open around the clock. When security fencing was erected around the pumps a couple of months ago it was stolen.

Later investigations discovered that it had been dragged the 250 yards or so into The Jungle, where it is being used as the walls for a temporary mosque. No one dares to retrieve it.

Meanwhile, a mobile home in front of one of the giant warehouses from which Eurostop operates has been broken into so many times that staff no longer bother even to lock it up.

'The only thing left in it was the office cat, Blackadder,' says Mr Wood. 'I go in on a daily basis to feed him. A couple of weeks ago I went in to do just that and discovered that they had only gone and stolen the poor cat's bowl! It was just a little glass bowl, nothing special. I remember thinking to myself: " Goodness, this is really bad." I suppose I should be glad that they didn't take the cat as well.'

The words are accompanied by a rueful and weary smile. Mr Wood is a well-travelled, urbane man who spent the first 20 years of his working life as an executive selling Massey Ferguson tractors and machinery across Africa.

He has seen poverty in the raw and is sympathetic to the plight of genuine refugees, those compelled by circumstance to leave their homes and travel in search of safety.

'The first migrants we saw in Calais arrived in the late 1990s from Kosovo,' he says. 'I remember it very clearly because they were all genuine refugees and the trucks would pull in from across Europe and there would be whole families getting off. I could understand that and so could the people here. But over the years it has changed.'

In any case, residents of Calais proper were largely insulated from the influx at the beginning. The immigrants were housed at Sangatte on the outskirts of the town, in a centre run by the Red Cross.

A giant warehouse, at its peak it provided shelter for 1,000 people. But from the start its very existence was controversial.

While it provided humanitarian relief, there were well-founded concerns that it was acting as a magnet for asylum seekers from around the world, exacerbating the problem further.

The centre was closed in 2002 and as security was beefed up around the port the numbers attempting the crossing to Britain began to tail off. The problem, it seemed, was under control.

All that changed at the end of last year, when it became apparent that a new wave of migrants was massing in Calais. Statistics bear this out.

The number of migrants caught at Calais port has doubled this year - more than 1,000 were detected in refrigerated lorries and other HGVs between January and March.

Predominantly young males of working age, they are drawn from across the world, dividing themselves into ethnic groups once in Calais (The Jungle, for instance, is dominated by those from Afghanistan).

But what is causing concern locally is not only the number of migrants, but this hitherto unseen aggressiveness. This new edge has shocked Mr Wood, who has a French wife and three children, and has also shocked the townspeople.

'They have tolerated the situation for years, but not any more,' he says. 'Recently, I was driving through town with my wife near to where the charities hand out food every day.

'Suddenly, there was an almighty fracas. Sixty or 70 immigrants jumped over the railings into the road and started fighting with one another. They were armed with iron bars and knives. It was terrible. The locals saw that and said: "No thanks - we don't want that here."

'The view was that if they wanted to come here and to get on the back of a British truck that was fine - it didn't affect us - but now they are here in such numbers it has spilled over. They are everywhere and people feel threatened by it.'

The reality of that threat was brought home a few months ago when a British student studying journalism ventured into The Jungle. She was raped, her ordeal at the hands of a man believed to be a gangmaster lasting 45 terrifying minutes.

This undercurrent of aggression is something that Mr Wood has also seen at close quarters.

His office window overlooks the row of petrol pumps. Next to it is a small retail outlet which he stocks with crates of beer and boxes of wine to sell to truckers as they fill up.

The inhabitants of The Jungle are aware of this and hide behind outbuildings, staking out the area. When a lorry pulls up they run after it, forcing open its rear doors and attempting to jump in.

Mr Wood has witnessed this more times than he can remember, capturing it on video camera on numerous occasions.

He says: 'You would be amazed at the speed and ingenuity of these people. One minute there is a fleeting shadow speeding from behind the wall of our shop towards the truck and next thing you know the lorry door is open and there is a stream of migrants being bundled into the lorry. It is a bit like paratroopers jumping out of a plane, only in reverse.'

Occasionally, he intervenes. 'I was in front of the shop recently when a couple of British truck drivers I knew stopped,' he says. 'I told them they had a couple of people hanging around at the back of the truck.

'There was one lad who I had seen before and I told him to get lost. He went crazy, telling me that I couldn't talk to him like that. He then went to pick up a big rock and I remember thinking: "I'm in big trouble here."

'I decided to stand up to him, but he just told me: "I don't care about what happens here because I am going to England. I will get to England."

'Fortunately some of the guys with him pulled him back and calmed him down. I don't know what would have happened if they hadn't - I have seen them stone lorries and their drivers. I was really shaken up by it.'

All Mr Wood wants to do is be able to get on with his everyday life. With things as they are, his business is suffering and his nine-strong staff are in a permanent state of fear.

SO WHAT to do? Initially the talk within the business community was of setting up vigilante groups to forcibly clear out the migrants from The Jungle. This was not a course of action Mr Wood favoured. Instead, he persuaded his fellow businessmen to start a campaign of letter writing to raise the issue with the authorities.

This has met with some success. Two weeks ago, the French immigration minister Eric Besson came to Calais and agreed to meet business leaders, including Mr Wood.

The politician promised that by the end of the year The Jungle would be cleared away and that it would be replaced by a series of 'mini' welcome centres set up along the French coast. These would offer food, showers and information about how to claim asylum in France.

'The Jungle will cease to exist,' Mr Besson vowed. While the announcement was welcomed by Mr Wood and his colleagues, nothing has so far happened.

In fact, last week French engineers actually installed a water stand-pipe in The Jungle - hardly a sign of imminent closure.

Mr Wood says the French continue to think that the British are largely to blame for the situation. They believe that Britain's generous welfare benefits attract foreigners from all over the world and that they use their country as a base to get to the UK, where they will claim asylum or else disappear into the black economy. continues here

Italy turns rescued migrants back

The Italian navy has transferred more than 200 migrants picked up in waters off the island of Malta to Tripoli under a new agreement with Libya.

The migrants were rescued after they issued a distress call on Wednesday.

Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said the Libyan government's move could mark a "turning point" in the fight against illegal immigration.

He said it could also help resolve an ongoing dispute between Italy and Malta over responsibility for the migrants.

Last month, there was a diplomatic standoff between the two after the authorities in Valletta refused to accept 140 migrants heading for Italy, even though they were picked up by a Turkish ship inside Malta's search and rescue area.

Malta had insisted that the vessel take the migrants to the island of Lampedusa, where Italy has a detention centre for asylum seekers and illegal migrants, because it was the nearest port of call.

” The migrants were unable to make any demands for political asylum because they weren't even received….”

Rome eventually took in the migrants on humanitarian grounds.

Nearly 37,000 migrants landed on the shores of Italy last year, an increase of around 75% over the year before.

'Historic day'

The 227 illegal migrants were rescued by an Italian tanker on Wednesday after being spotted on three separate boats.

Italian customs official Francesco Maugeri said they were sent back to Tripoli on Thursday aboard two coast guard boats and a border police boat.

"Some of the migrants were suffering symptoms probably caused by exhaustion and cold" but none had serious health problems, he told the Associated Press.

Speaking on Italian television afterwards, Mr Maroni said he had contacted the Libyan government and arranged the immediate return of the migrants.

He said an accord already existed with Libya covering the return of illegal immigrants but that it had never been successfully put into effect.

The interior minster, a member of the anti-immigration Northern League party, praised Libya's acceptance as a possible "turning point", calling it "a historic day".

He said the deal, if implemented in the future, would be a "breakthrough" that could put an end to rows between Italy and Malta over rescue operations.

Mr Maroni said long-promised joint coastal patrols off Libya by Italian and Libyan boats would start on 15 May.

A spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it was "very concerned" by Thursday's development.


continues here

Gangs Traffic Children Through Heathrow

Criminal gangs are using immigration laws to traffic children into Britain through Heathrow Airport, a leaked report has revealed.



More than 80 children have escaped from an assessment centre near Heathrow airport and only four of them have been found.

One of the girls who was discovered had become pregnant and it later emerged she and another had been forced to work in brothels in the Midlands.

A secret report by the UK Border Agency, leaked to The Guardian newspaper, said the centre had become a "clearing house" for international gangs.

It revealed some children simply walked out of the building to be picked up by waiting cars while others escaped out of windows or during fire drills.

A spokesman for the UK Border Agency said: "Children identified as vulnerable by UK Border Agency officers are placed in the care of local authority social services. Local authorities have a duty to ensure children are kept safe from harm."

Despite this the council which runs the assessment centre insists it cannot force children to remain there.

Julian Wooster, Hillingdon Borough council's deputy director of Children and Families, said: "We cannot lock the doors because it's a breach of their human rights. Unless they have committed a crime we do not place them in a secure setting."

"We try to persuade them not to run away from the centre."

Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said the leaked report highlighted a "scandalous situation in our immigration system".

"To have such a large number of children going missing when they are supposed to be in care is unacceptable. We need an urgent explanation from the home secretary."

The UK Border Agency says, in the last year, 12 traffickers have been prosecuted for preying on the children.

Research by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) showed at least 325 youngsters had been identified as potential victims of trafficking in one year.

The potential victims came from 52 different countries, including China, Britain, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Romania and Vietnam. continues here

EACH ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT TO COST US £ 1MILLION

AN AMNESTY allowing illegal immigrants to stay in the UK would cost a staggering £1million for each newcomer.


For the first time, the “huge, unnecessary burden” of letting up to 950,000 foreign nationals remain is revealed today by campaign group Migrationwatch.

They say the move would be a “shocking waste of public money” when the nation is in the depths of recession.

The pressure group also say a similar cost, based on people having children and earning low wages, could apply to many people who have already been granted asylum.

And they warn that such an amnesty would only tempt more illegal immigrants into Britain – as has happened in Italy and Spain where migrants have been allowed to stay.

A coalition of churches, unions and others are holding church services and a mass rally today in support of an “earned amnesty” for an estimated 450,000 long-term illegal immigrants if they meet certain conditions.

The Institute for Public Policy Research, Labour’s favourite think-tank, claimed the move could bring in more than £1billion of tax a year.

And Conservative London Mayor Boris Johnson has argued for an amnesty for long-term illegal immigrants of good character who can support themselves so that they contribute to tax revenues. A study for Mr Johnson by the London School of

Economics has estimated that there were between 524,000 and 947,000 “irregular residents” and their children in Britain at the end of 2007, with a “central estimate” of 725,000.

But Migrationwatch today publishes what it says is the first estimate of the “lifetime cost” to taxpayers of letting people stay in the UK.

It is based on a 25-year-old, married with two children, who earned the minimum wage and lived in private rented housing, retired at 65 and lived until 80.

Setting the tax and National Insurance paid against their demands on the public purse, including housing and council tax benefit and pension credit, brings their lifetime cost to taxpayers to some £900,000, with a bill of £1.1 million in London.

Migrationwatch chairman Sir Andrew Green said last night: “The numbers are truly enormous, adding an unacceptable, and entirely unnecessary, burden to the nation’s balance sheet at a time when Boris Johnson himself is writing about ‘the horrific state of the nation’s finances’.”

Sir Andrew acknowledged that some immigrants would earn over the minimum wage and thus take lower welfare payments, but some may have more than two children and so get higher benefit.

“Or they may be unemployed. Immigrants are, on average, more likely to be economically inactive than the UK as a whole,” he added.

The report says the cost of granting settlement to an asylum seeker who did not achieve higher earnings, although many would do so, would be similar.

The campaign group says this makes Home Office failure to appear at up to a third of asylum appeals “reprehensible”. Sir Andrew added: “It is also a shocking waste of public money at a time when we can least afford it.”

In Italy an amnesty in 1988 let 119,000 foreigners settle, but when the exercise was repeated in 2002 the figure soared to 700,000. In Spain the figure rose from 44,000 in 1985 to 700,000 in 2005.

Observers noted that the costs calculated by Migrationwatch could also apply to people born in the UK who made the same demands on the state.

Campaigners for an amnesty were boosted yesterday by the policy research think-tank, which said tighter controls and action to reduce the number of immigrants could enable the Government to consider giving illegal entrants a chance to earn the right to stay. Today, thousands of people are expected join services at churches and a rally in Trafalgar Square as part of a Strangers into Citizens “day of action”.

But a UK Border Agency spokesman said the Government firmly opposed amnesties, adding: “Those here illegally should go home, not go to the front of the queue for jobs and benefits. To grant an amnesty would be likely to create a significant pull factor to the UK and would undermine the asylum system as a whole.” continues here

NEW LAW MAY GIVE ASYLUM TO 22,500 REFUGEES

Thousands more asylum seekers will be given the right to live, work and claim benefits in Britain.

Controversial plans will require the UK to accept one in eight of all migrants who set foot in any of the 27 European Union countries and demand refugee status.

It could mean an estimated 22,500 more people coming to Britain.

Taxpayers will be expected to foot the bill for their food, accommodation and clothing, plus legal fees while they apply for international protection.

Asylum seekers must also be given the right to work within six months of their arrival, enabling them to claim thousands of pounds in benefits if they cannot find a job. Their children must also be found school places.

Migrants can only be detained as a last resort and must not be held in secure accommodation more than 72 hours without a judge’s approval.

The proposals, supported by Labour MEPs, are part of the EU’s Common European Asylum System and will be put to the European Parliament in Strasbourg for approval.

Last night Conservative MEP Philip Bradbourn said: “Economic migrants posing as asylum seekers would have an easy ride under these plans.

“Once again, the EU thinks the only answer to justified immigration concerns is to take control of asylum policy. Controlling our borders is one of the most important roles of government.

“For more than a decade, Labour has been unable to form a coherent immigration policy, but that should not justify handing it to Brussels.”

UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage said: “Brussels will soon be dictating who has the right to live and work in Britain. The EU is pushing for a common asylum and immigration policy but it is being pushed through without proper thought.”

EU member states will be forced to take refugees or face huge fines under the proposals outlined on Monday.

Migrants will be rehoused from states “confronted with a large number of asylum applications” such as Malta, Greece, Italy and Spain’s Canary Islands to larger countries such as the UK – a reversal of the rule that requires applicants to seek sanctuary in the first safe country.

Member states would be compelled to accept a percentage of applicants in accordance with their population.

This would mean the UK taking in 13 per cent of all refugees arriving in the EU – or 22,500 of the 322,000 average arrivals over the last 10 years.

A Home Office spokeswoman said last night: “The UK operates a firm but fair asylum system that is delivering faster decisions to help those who need our protection. continues here

Drive to abolish French law that makes it illegal to help immigrants sneak into Britain

France is set to vote on scrapping a law that makes it a crime to help refugees sneak into Britain.

The drive to abolish rules that offering 'food, shelter and assistance' to illegal immigrants is being spearheaded by socialist party leader Martine Aubrey - the same politician who opened the notorious Sangatte hostel 12 years ago.

The law - article L622-1 of the French penal code - is used by police in Calais to prosecute anyone helping British-bound refugees to remain in the northern port by giving them food, money or shelter.

Those convicted face up to five years in prison and a £25,000 fine. But right-wing lawmakers insist scrapping the rules would make it easier for the estimated 2,000 refugees in Calais to remain there - and create an incentive for many more to arrive.

Aubry, daughter of notorious former EU Commission president Jacques Delors, said: 'This law punishes kindness and makes people live in fear.

'We have drafted legislation aimed at removing the rules so people can offer basic free aid to illegal immigrants whose lives could be in danger without it.'

She also defended opening the Sangatte refugee camp when she was social affairs minister in 1997, adding: 'I opened Sangatte as a humanitarian gesture because people were suffering.'

The camp acted as a stepping stone for 60,000 migrants to sneak into Britain before it was bulldozed in 2002.

But immigration minister Eric Besson, who will be rallying MPs to vote next Tuesday to keep the law, said: 'No one has ever been prosecuted for giving food or shelter to an illegal immigrant.

'It is in place to catch the people smugglers who charge refugees thousands or euros to help them sneak aboard lorries and ferries to Britain.'

The debate over the law was ignited by the release of the recent film Welcome about a Calais swimming instructor prosecuted for teaching a refugee to swim across the Channel to Britain.

The film's director Phipppe Loiret likened the law to 'having a Jew hidden in your cellar' during Nazi Germany - remarks which Mr Besson branded 'intolerable'.

There are currently around 2,000 mainly Iraqi, Afghan, Somali and Kurdish refugees living rough in Calais. Many make daily attempts to sneak aboard ferries, lorries and Channel Tunnel trains to Britain. continues here

Bogus foreign students free to flout new laws

Home Office fails to vet hundreds of colleges

Thousands of bogus students remain free to enter Britain despite new laws aimed at tightening controls on immigration. The Times has learnt that hundreds of colleges recently approved by the Home Office to accept non-EU students have not been inspected by its officers. 

Weaknesses in the student visa system have emerged following the arrest of 12 terror suspects last week. Ten of the men entered this country from Pakistan on student visas. 

It has also emerged that the vast majority of non-EU students will not be interviewed by the Home Office but admitted on the basis of written applications and evidence of sponsorship, educational qualifications and bank statements. 

Chris Grayling, the Shadow Home Secretary, said: “The more we learn about the way the Government has managed our student visa system, the more question marks there are.”

John Tincey, the chairman of the Immigration Service Union, said that the failure to include interviews could be exploited by terrorists. 

Under the system, universities, colleges and schools must register with the Home Office to accept students from outside the EU. They must agree to alert the Home Office if a student fails to register, stops attending classes or if a course is shortened and keep copies of the students’ passports as well as up-to-date contact addresses. 

The new regime came in two weeks ago and is intended to end a scam in which thousands of foreigners enrolled at bogus colleges to work here. So far, 2,100 establishments have been registered and 400 rejected. There are 14,000 establishments on an earlier database that need to register. 

Today The Times highlights the abuses under the old regime, described by the Immigration Minister as the Achilles’ heel of the system. 

At one college in Manchester that claims to have more than 100 students — most of them from North West Frontier Province in Pakistan — only two turned up for classes yesterday.  continues here

HSMP case: UK compensation for Indian migrant professionals

LONDON: In a major legal victory, nearly 10,000 Indian and other non-European Union professionals will be able to claim compensation forhardship caused by the 2006 changes to immigration rules that were struck down by the High Court here. 

The court last evening ruled that the changes to the rules, extending the number of years required for indefinite stay in the UK from four to five years under which they originally entered Britain, were unfair.

"The ruling paves the way for the Indian and other non-EU professionals who entered the UK under the programme to claim compensation for the inconvenience and extra costs endured by having to wait an extra year before settlement"

It is the second time in a year that the retrospective changes to the programme for the "brightest and best" migrants, including Indians doctors and other professionals, have been declared unfair and unlawful by the court. 

In a strongly-worded ruling, Justice Cox declared that the five-year rule imposed by the Home Office on people already in the country was unlawful. 

"It would be unlawful for the (Home Secretary) to withhold indefinite leave to remain from all those members of the highly skilled migrant programme who were already on the scheme before April 3, 2006, by reference to a qualifying period of five years' continuous residence," she said. 

The judgment directs British government to honour its original commitments made to participants of Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP), which is no longer in operation. The ruling paves the way for the Indian and other non-EU professionals who entered the UK under the programme to claim compensation for the inconvenience and extra costs endured by having to wait an extra year before settlement. 

The migrants suffered financial difficulties because of the inability to secure a competitive mortgage without indefinite leave to remain. 

There was also a continuing lack of good employment or promotional opportunities, including an inability to travel potentially resulting in career setbacks, and the migrant's children's education would also have been more expensive. 

In October 2008, HSMP Forum, a campaigning body, representing about 50,000 highly skilled migrants, mostly Indians, filed a Judicial Review application challenging the Home Office on changes to the terms of settlement. 

Amit Kapadia of the Forum said instead of addressing the issue of illegal and burdensome immigration, government has been penalising the legal and desirable section of Highly Skilled Migrants, who are making a valuable contribution to UK economy by offering requisite skills, paying all the taxes and at the same time not availing public funds. 

Accepting the ruling, a Home Office spokesman said: "This case was about an old set of rules that have been swept away by our new points-based system. We believed we had fully implemented the previous judge's findings relating to the changes we made to the HSMP in 2006.  continues here

£32M ASYLUM CENTRE ‘WILL WRECK OUR COUNTRYSIDE’

Europe’s biggest detention centre for illegal immigrants is to be built in the heart of the English countryside, the Home Office confirmed yesterday.


The news was greeted with dismay by people who fear the £32million development will be a blot on the landscape and send house prices plummeting. 

The centre will hold up to 800 foreign nationals awaiting deportation. It will have the same security status as a Category C prison and be surrounded by a 17ft-high razor wire fence.

The facility will be built either in Bullingdon, near Bicester in Oxfordshire, or on the site of the existing Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre in Bedfordshire.

The Home Office will decide on the location next month. 

The UK Border Agency claims the new complex, due to open by 2012, is “critical” in its plans to speed up the removal of illegal immigrants.

However Marjorie Read, who lives in the village of Piddington, near Bullingdon, said: “People have paid a premium to live here and if you want to sell your property it is going to be difficult. 

“Until this is built it will be almost impossible to sell because we won’t know the impact.

“It will be very visible because it will be three storeys high and will have security lighting.”

Resident David Hughes added: “The proposed site in Bullingdon is half a mile from two villages and people in both are understandably very worried. 

“The Government should be tightening up border controls instead of pouring money into building detention centres.”

Brian Johnson, of Piddington, said: “The centre will destroy this beautiful part of the country. We are being used as an asylum landfill for the huge numbers of people who shouldn’t be here.”

Planning applications for the complex were submitted to councils at both sites last year.

The plans to double the size of the centre at Yarl’s Wood, which holds 405 inmates, were approved by Bedford Borough Council last month.

And on Thursday proposals for the centre at Bullingdon were given the green light by Cherwell District Council.

Sarah Hayward, of campaigners Coalition Against Bullingdon Immigration Removal Centre, said: “This site is not suitable and will have a huge impact on the people living nearby.”  continues here

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