Their Voices were not Heard

On Saturday 22nd June up to 5,000 people marched through London. They carried placards saying 'Stop the War on Asylum Seekers', Stop Attacks on Asylum Seekers' and 'Refugees are Welcome Here'.

While people should be concerned about attacks on asylum seekers, it was nonetheless a shame that attention focused so closely on one group to the exclusion of others. Although the media and government have over the last few years turned asylum seekers into hate figures and made them susceptible to verbal and physical abuse, they are not alone in their vulnerability.

Also on the march and facing deportation were people who came to the UK for family reunification and or work. These migrants come to the UK to work, to do the jobs we won't, for wages we find unacceptable. Some of these migrants are overstayers who entered on temporary visas, but who have made a life here and want to remain, others entered without documentation, prepared to risk death or injury in order to earn a living for themselves and their families. Some were students who have put down roots and want to remain here to work but who now find themselves liable to removal.

Then there are those who came to share their lives with British citizens or residents, but whose marriages or relationships the government disputes. Among the most at risk are women who came to the UK legally as spouses and have been abandoned by their UK husbands, women who have left their marriage to UK nationals because of violence, children who came to the UK to join their parents, parents who came to join their children and were refused leave to remain.

Many of these people have left their country, not because they were direct targets of political, religious or racial persecution, but for a mixture of social, economic and political reasons. But whatever their reasons for leaving their countries of origin, they are in Britain now and have become, or could become, members of our communities. Their lives and ours will be better for their presence in this country. There is no reason for them to leave, and every reason for the British government to stop hounding them. Government and international reports make clear that Britain needs migration for economic and demographic reasons. While these may allay the fears and concerns of some, there are other and stronger reasons for putting an end to the detention and deportation of our friends, colleagues and family members.

In addition to the arguments spelled out by Steve Cohen in the last newsletter, it is important to remember that migration controls are by their very nature discriminatory and divisive. Aside from the ridiculous expense involved in attempting to control borders, in locking up people of every age, and providing them with inadequate and substandard education, healthcare and accommodation, the implementation of these controls damages us, individually and as a society.

NCADC numbers among its campaigns many others facing deportation, some of whom, like asylum seekers, are detained in prisons and removal centres around the country. The detention and deportation of people who have committed no crime, but simply because they have not been granted permission by the state to remain here amounts to cruel and inhumane treatment, and forcing people who are British citizens or residents to either leave Britain or live without their loved ones amounts to cruel and inhumane treatment. Examples of the hurt and despair caused fill the pages of every NCADC newsletter.

Creating a body of individuals who watch over and seek to control groups of people imprisoned without trial or charge, but simply because they don't have the skills, the capital or the right passport validates discrimination by immigration officers and private security personnel against migrants, and that of the society of which they are a part. This 'legalised' discrimination is enshrined in Section 19 of the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000, which specifically exempts immigration and nationality legislation and immigration officers from the provisions of the rest of the Act.

Such discrimination creates a society that is divided against itself and fearful of outsiders, and fear breeds hatred. That hatred may be turned against only some members of our society but it damages all of us.

That is why it important to fight against the detention and deportation of everyone - whether asylum seeker, overstayer or undocumented migrant.