The contradiction of UK migration policy has created a monster
There's a contradiction in the UK's approach to migration. We live in a society where it has been generally and repeatedly agreed that it would be simply impossible to have registration systems for the population as a whole. ID cards are attacked as the start of an Orwellian nightmare. There's no integrated system for tracking people crossing the border. Opponents claim that it is unacceptable for the government to hold that kind of information on the people living in this country.
Granted, there are balanced, reasoned and principled arguments that back up such a position.
The problem, however, is that this runs in direct opposition to another set of policies and ideological positioning that has been building up over a number of years. This is a position that states that control of the borders is paramount, that there are vast systematic abuses of the UK's social security and the NHS by foreigners, that job security and wages are being undermined by migrants, that there is a rampant illegal migration problem.
In many respects this has led to the Home Office being given powerful tools to intrude into people's lives: demanding documentation, changing the required documentation on a whim, issuing threats, denying access to public services, forcing other arms of the state like schools and hospitals to act as border enforcers, detaining people, denying people justice and ultimately deporting people.
Yet here is the flaw. Having been given these significant powers, the forces of UK immigration control are missing all the pieces of information they need in order to identify and bring in the people who are genuinely here illegally or abusing the system.
The immigration control Leviathan that we have built in this country is one that is powerful, one that has a clear vision of who the enemy is, but one who does not know where this enemy is to be found.
This is dangerous. Without sufficient information, this monster has retreated towards the next best thing: constant vigilance, bordering on paranoia. So long as the 'enemy' cannot be identified for sure, then they could be anywhere. And this is what the Home Office does, it sees enemies everywhere. Everywhere across the country it goes, trying to seek out and hunt down its prey. After all, if it cannot find these 'illegals', these abusers of our generosity, then others will look at it and think that it's going insane.
This mismatch between powers and information has created an immigration control agency powerful enough to destroy lives but with sufficiently little information that its actions amount to wild and vicious swings at anyone who might look out of the ordinary.
Now, simply giving the Home Office all the information it desires would not solve this problem. It's far too late for that. The culture of the 'hostile environment' runs deep in that department and it would be wildly irresponsible and dangerous to give it anything more.
A new balance, however, must be found. Toning down of deportation powers, greater access to appeals and legal aid for those under threat, a full system of registration for all living in this country, expansion of voting rights to EU citizens (in line with Commonwealth citizens); in short, more information to make better use of fewer powers, held to account by the people most at risk of abuse. Ultimately, the Home Office itself should be abolished, replaced by a new Interior Ministry, with a focus on peace and safety, not border control.
Granted, there are balanced, reasoned and principled arguments that back up such a position.
The problem, however, is that this runs in direct opposition to another set of policies and ideological positioning that has been building up over a number of years. This is a position that states that control of the borders is paramount, that there are vast systematic abuses of the UK's social security and the NHS by foreigners, that job security and wages are being undermined by migrants, that there is a rampant illegal migration problem.
In many respects this has led to the Home Office being given powerful tools to intrude into people's lives: demanding documentation, changing the required documentation on a whim, issuing threats, denying access to public services, forcing other arms of the state like schools and hospitals to act as border enforcers, detaining people, denying people justice and ultimately deporting people.
Yet here is the flaw. Having been given these significant powers, the forces of UK immigration control are missing all the pieces of information they need in order to identify and bring in the people who are genuinely here illegally or abusing the system.
The immigration control Leviathan that we have built in this country is one that is powerful, one that has a clear vision of who the enemy is, but one who does not know where this enemy is to be found.
This is dangerous. Without sufficient information, this monster has retreated towards the next best thing: constant vigilance, bordering on paranoia. So long as the 'enemy' cannot be identified for sure, then they could be anywhere. And this is what the Home Office does, it sees enemies everywhere. Everywhere across the country it goes, trying to seek out and hunt down its prey. After all, if it cannot find these 'illegals', these abusers of our generosity, then others will look at it and think that it's going insane.
This mismatch between powers and information has created an immigration control agency powerful enough to destroy lives but with sufficiently little information that its actions amount to wild and vicious swings at anyone who might look out of the ordinary.
Now, simply giving the Home Office all the information it desires would not solve this problem. It's far too late for that. The culture of the 'hostile environment' runs deep in that department and it would be wildly irresponsible and dangerous to give it anything more.
A new balance, however, must be found. Toning down of deportation powers, greater access to appeals and legal aid for those under threat, a full system of registration for all living in this country, expansion of voting rights to EU citizens (in line with Commonwealth citizens); in short, more information to make better use of fewer powers, held to account by the people most at risk of abuse. Ultimately, the Home Office itself should be abolished, replaced by a new Interior Ministry, with a focus on peace and safety, not border control.
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