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                      <TD><IMG height=3 
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                      <TD><BR class=NetscapeDummy></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
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                              <DIV><FONT size=2><SPAN class=DocumentType>From 
                              spiked...</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
                              <DIV><FONT size=2><SPAN 
                              class=DocumentType></SPAN></FONT>&nbsp;</DIV>
                              <DIV><FONT size=2><SPAN 
                              class=DocumentType>Column</SPAN><IMG height=1 
                              src="http://www.spiked-online.com/images/pixel.gif" 
                              width=15><SPAN class=datestrip>10 August 
                              2001</SPAN></FONT></DIV></TD></TR>
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                              <P><FONT size=2><SPAN class=DocumentTitle>Asylum: 
                              the immigration laws are 
                          mad</SPAN></FONT></P></TD></TR>
                          <TR vAlign=top>
                            <TD colSpan=2><FONT size=2><SPAN class=ReadOn>by 
                              </SPAN><A class=Author>Mick 
                          Hume</A></FONT></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR>
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                      <TD><BR class=NetscapeDummy>
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                            <TD class=bodyp><FONT size=2>The murder of a 
                              Turkish asylum-seeker in Glasgow has re-ignited 
                              the debate about how to resolve the UK's asylum 
                              'crisis'. The answer always seems to be the same: 
                              tighten the rules, close the loopholes, raise the 
                              bar, shut the door. <BR class=NetscapeDummy><BR 
                              class=NetscapeDummy></FONT></TD></TR>
                          <TR>
                            <TD class=bodyp><FONT size=2>This ignores the fact 
                              that the real problem is not asylum-seekers, but 
                              Britain's immigration laws. The only possible 
                              solution is to create a climate in which we can 
                              open the borders and welcome the free movement of 
                              people, as readily as the authorities now champion 
                              the free movement of trade and investment.<BR 
                              class=NetscapeDummy><BR 
                            class=NetscapeDummy></FONT></TD></TR>
                          <TR>
                            <TD class=bodyp><FONT size=2>In a sense asylum is 
                              a non-issue. Despite one newspaper's ridiculous 
                              front-page headline today - 'ASYLUM: WE'RE BEING 
                              INVADED' (1) - statistics reveal that there were 
                              76,040 applications for asylum in the UK last 
                              year. Even if they had all been allowed to stay, 
                              it is hard to see how they could have 'swamped' a 
                              rich nation of almost 60million, where around 
                              78,000 will fit into one Cardiff stadium for a 
                              football match on Sunday. In fact, less than 20 
                              percent of applications are currently accepted, 
                              according to Home Office figures.<BR 
                              class=NetscapeDummy><BR 
                            class=NetscapeDummy></FONT></TD></TR>
                          <TR>
                            <TD class=bodyp><FONT size=2>True, there has been 
                              an increase in applications for asylum in recent 
                              years. But that only illustrates the underlying 
                              problem. There would be no such thing as 
                              asylum-seekers were it not for the UK's terrible 
                              immigration laws.<BR class=NetscapeDummy><BR 
                              class=NetscapeDummy></FONT></TD></TR>
                          <TR>
                            <TD class=bodyp><FONT size=2>Since Britain's 
                              restrictive rules on immigration were tightened 
                              further at the start of the 1980s, it has been 
                              impossible to gain entry to the UK to live unless 
                              you already have immediate family here, or are 
                              marrying a British citizen, or have £100,000 to 
                              invest (a rich man can always pass through the eye 
                              of this particular needle). At the same time, as 
                              fewer people have been able to emigrate to the UK 
                              through normal channels, more have applied for 
                              asylum.<BR class=NetscapeDummy><BR 
                              class=NetscapeDummy></FONT></TD></TR>
                          <TR>
                            <TD class=bodyp><FONT size=2>The asylum system 
                              insists that only 'genuine refugees' can stay in 
                              the UK. Applicants are subjected to an intensive 
                              'show-us-your-scars' style interrogation, in which 
                              they have to satisfy the authorities that they 
                              have truly been persecuted.<BR 
                              class=NetscapeDummy><BR 
                            class=NetscapeDummy></FONT></TD></TR>
                          <TR>
                            <TD class=bodyp><FONT size=2>Those who do not meet 
                              the exacting standards of victimhood are deemed to 
                              be mere 'economic refugees' and branded 'bogus 
                              asylum-seekers'. Those who are allowed in are 
                              assumed to be so desperate that they should accept 
                              any degrading conditions - such as living on food 
                              vouchers worth just 70 percent of income support, 
                              and compulsory 'dispersal' to impoverished 
                              inner-city estates like Glasgow's Sighthill.<BR 
                              class=NetscapeDummy><BR 
                            class=NetscapeDummy></FONT></TD></TR>
                          <TR>
                            <TD class=bodyp><FONT size=2>By marking these 
                              refugees out as alien scroungers, then dumping 
                              them in the middle of hard-pressed communities 
                              where being given a second-hand fridge looks like 
                              privileged treatment, the asylum law invites the 
                              kind of violence and tensions that exploded there 
                              this week. <BR class=NetscapeDummy><BR 
                              class=NetscapeDummy></FONT></TD></TR>
                          <TR>
                            <TD class=bodyp><FONT size=2>After the murder, one 
                              Glasgow newspaper revealed that the Turkish victim 
                              was not a 'genuine refugee' at all, but a poor 
                              fruit-and-veg seller who had come here under false 
                              pretences in pursuit of a better life. Under UK 
                              law, that is an offence. But why should you be 
                              treated like a criminal because you are attempting 
                              to escape from poverty rather than persecution?<BR 
                              class=NetscapeDummy><BR 
                            class=NetscapeDummy></FONT></TD></TR>
                          <TR>
                            <TD class=bodyp><FONT size=2>If we want a bold 
                              solution to the problem, let's try getting rid of 
                              the immigration laws. Since there are no 
                              categories of 'real' and 'bogus' human beings, all 
                              surely deserve equal treatment. And let them work 
                              when they get here.<BR class=NetscapeDummy><BR 
                              class=NetscapeDummy></FONT></TD></TR>
                          <TR>
                            <TD class=bodyp><FONT size=2>Despite the scare 
                              stories, there is no danger of developed societies 
                              being 'overpopulated' through immigration. As the 
                              home to 34million people, many of them immigrants, 
                              California is the most populous state in the USA. 
                              Yet the US immigration authorities admit that its 
                              economy could probably sustain around twice as 
                              many people.<BR class=NetscapeDummy><BR 
                              class=NetscapeDummy></FONT></TD></TR>
                          <TR>
                            <TD class=bodyp><FONT size=2>Indeed, studying the 
                              declining birth rate, some demographers are now 
                              coming to the conclusion that economies like the 
                              UK will need more immigrant labour in the future. 
                              Yet even this hard-headed capitalist case for 
                              immigration is not enough to shift the political 
                              class from their close-the-door attitudes. A 
                              combination of prejudice, lack of nerve and a 
                              contemptuous fear of 'the mob' prevents the 
                              politicians from daring to break free of the 
                              stultifying 'how can we keep them out?' debate on 
                              asylum and immigration.<BR class=NetscapeDummy><BR 
                              class=NetscapeDummy></FONT></TD></TR>
                          <TR>
                            <TD class=bodyp><FONT size=2>The paradox today is 
                              that, while the etiquette of anti-racism has 
                              become compulsory among the New Labour elite and 
                              their allies, nobody wants to appear 'soft' on 
                              asylum. The upshot is, as we have noted on <I 
                              xmlns:script="urn:my-script-blocks">spiked</I> 
                              before, that you can treat asylum-seekers like 
                              dirt, so long as you don't use any rude words like 
                              'bogus' in front of the Commission for Racial 
                              Equality.<BR class=NetscapeDummy><BR 
                              class=NetscapeDummy></FONT></TD></TR>
                          <TR>
                            <TD class=bodyp><FONT size=2>This poses an 
                              important test for those of us who want to make a 
                              consistent stand in defence of liberties during 
                              New Labour's second term. We should challenge all 
                              attempts to impose censorship and conformity under 
                              the banners of anti-racism. At the same time, 
                              however, we need to oppose the divisive asylum 
                              system and the immigration laws that underpin it. 
                              We cannot have a free society so long as people 
                              are not free to come and go.<BR 
                              class=NetscapeDummy><BR 
                            class=NetscapeDummy></FONT></TD></TR>
                          <TR>
                            <TD class=bodyp><FONT size=2>(1) <I 
                              xmlns:script="urn:my-script-blocks">Daily 
                              Express</I>, 10 August 2001 <BR 
                              class=NetscapeDummy 
                              xmlns:script="urn:my-script-blocks"><BR></FONT></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>