Migration Watch UK: News

Amnesty for London’s 500,000+ Illegal Immigrants – ‘An Appallingly Bad Idea’

The Mayor of London’s remarks in India about an amnesty for illegal immigrants in the capital would be a ‘kick in the teeth’ for the many thousands of young people struggling to find a job because of the unfair competition they face, says a think tank who have today issued a report on the situation in the capital .

Boris Johnson suggested that an amnesty for illegal immigrants is somehow inevitable but, says think tank Migration Watch UK, with an estimated 500,000+ illegal immigrants in London alone such plans would be a gross betrayal of those seeking legitimately to get into the jobs market.

The report points out, that every country that has tried amnesties has found that they simply increase the number of illegals who, often correctly, have assumed that they will also be offered a further amnesty in due course.

Secondly, they reward illegal behaviour at considerable expense to the tax payers.

Even more importantly, illegal immigrants come to (or stay on in) London precisely in order to work and, often, to send money home. They mainly do low skilled work, which is exactly the kind of job that young Londoners need to get into the labour market.

To get work, illegal immigrants undercut the wages of British workers while  reducing the opportunities for young Londoners. They also allow unscrupulous employers to compete unfairly with honest ones who provide decent wages and conditions.

One specific area which is highly topical at present is housing - especially social housing - where the impact of such an amnesty would be felt particularly strongly. All those granted an amnesty would be eligible for social housing and they would also have the right to bring their families to Britain. Those that had large families would move up the housing queue. A recent report from the London School of Economics assumes that only 40% would require social housing but, even on that extremely optimistic assumption, the costs of the public sector subsidy would be £6.2 billion.

It is also clear there was no public appetite for an amnesty of the kind mooted. A YouGov poll for the Sunday Times in January 2012 found that 67% believe that illegal immigrants should be deported immediately with no right of appeal. This is consistent with earlier polling.

The report recognized that it is clearly impossible to deport half a million people. It is, however, possible to discourage an illegal existence in Britain. Fines against employers for employing illegal workers should be much more vigorously enforced. Action should also be taken against those who provide accommodation for illegal immigrants. These measures, combined with the development of electronic border checking, should progressively reduce the scale of illegal immigration in Britain.

Commenting, Sir Andrew Green, Chairman of Migration Watch UK said “The problem of illegal immigration has to be tackled if opportunities for young people in Britain are to be improved. A situation in which nearly a quarter of young Londoners, and about half of young black Londoners, are unemployed simply cannot be allowed to continue.  Amnesties are an appallingly bad idea.  They have been a total failure in Italy and Spain; they have just sucked in more and more illegals. It is highly irresponsible to suggest that an amnesty in the UK is inevitable – especially in a country that is believed to be a major source of illegal immigrants,” he said.

A Quarter of a Million Failed Asylum Seekers Granted Amnesty

Summary

1 The latest (and largest) exercise in granting settlement to failed asylum seekers is the continuation of a sorry tradition of amnesties that has resulted in over 250,000 failed asylum seekers being granted settlement since the early 1990s. Once settlement is achieved additional dependants can then join the person in the UK so the total number is likely to be much higher. It is now essential for the integrity of the immigration system that no more backlogs are allowed to develop.

Current Amnesty

2 During the late 1990s and early 2000s the Home Office allowed the build up of a backlog of around 400,000 cases. The exercises to clear these legacy cases resulted in 161,000 grants of settlement (ILR)…

See the full Briefing Paper No 11.25.

Thousands of illegal immigrants are granted settlement every year

Figures just released in a Parliamentary answer¹ show that, under a concession introduced by Labour in 2003, nearly 9,000 illegal immigrants have been granted permanent residence in Britain with full access to the Welfare State. Another 22,600 attained permanent residence after 10 years legal residence in Britain.

The figures show that the numbers granted residence have climbed significantly in the last three years. They may well climb further when Labour’s immigration boom has its full effect.

Commenting, Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migrationwatch UK said “These numbers will need careful watching. The government are now requiring students to show progression before they can extend their visas but there will be a backlog of “professional students” who will still be able to claim permanent settlement. The concession for illegal immigrants should be reviewed. It amounts to a slow motion amnesty. There is no reason why illegal residence in Britain, however long, should qualify someone to the full benefits of the Welfare State.”

Note to Editors:

¹Parliamentary Answer Number 54384, Column 1110W of 10^th May 2011

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were granted leave to remain after (a) 10 years legal residence and (b) 14 years illegal residence in the UK in each year between 1997 and 2010. [54384]

Damian Green: The following table shows the number of people granted leave to remain after making a long residency application for (a) 10 year legal residence and (b) 14 years illegal residence in the UK covering the period 1April 2003 to the 31 December 2010. The figures are separated by the year in which a decision was made.

The provision to grant indefinite leave to remain (ILR) on the basis of 14 year long term residence, along with that of 10 year long term residence, was introduced into the immigration rules in April 2003. Therefore we are unable to provide data prior to this date.

Number of individuals granted leave to remain
	(a) 10 year legal residence	(b) 14 year illegal residence	Total
2003 (from April)	2,043	952	2,995
2004	2,260	781	3,041
2005	2,581	730	3,311
2006	3,391	799	4,190
2007	2,411	949	3,360
2008	2,148	902	3,050
2009	3,042	2,061	5,103
2010	4,759	1,774	6,533
	22,635	8,948	31,583
Note: All figures quoted are internal management information only and are subject to change. This information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols.

BBC Today programme: asylum seekers, Calais

Sir Andrew Green was interviewed on the Today Programme at 8.35 this morning about the asylum seekers' camp near Calais, together with Donna Covey, the Chief Executive of the Refugee Council.

Sir Andrew said that the reason for people queueing up in Calais must be that Britain was perceived as a "soft touch". The official statistics suggested that this might be the case as anyone reaching Britain and claiming asylum had a nearly 80% chance of staying, often illegally.

He suggested that the government should take three steps:

1 Double the resources for removal.

2 Clamp down on employers of illegal labour.They had started to do this.

3 Take on the absurd arguments for an amnesty which could only make a bad situation worse.

You can hear the discussion on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme web site.

At last, the truth about immigration and council house queue jumping

By Sir Andrew Green 30 June, 2009

The Government's announcement yesterday that they are handing councils new powers to give local people priority on the waiting list for social housing is a clear admission that they have been misleading us over the huge impact of immigration on housing.

For years, they have been in total denial, refusing even to discuss how immigration has affected the supply of housing.

Now, at last, they have acknowledged that this is an issue which must be tackled. Supply of social housing has fallen far behind the demand for it because waiting lists have grown by over 60 per cent in just six years.

One major reason for this is the number of asylum seekers who have been granted asylum - or other forms of protection which entitle them to remain in Britain - and offered social housing…

See full newspaper article

Migrationwatch Migrationwatch comment on GLA report on illegal immigration issued on 16 June, 2009.

'These are very expensive proposals which would only make a bad situation worse. On the report’s own figures they would cost £300m in bureaucracy and £3m a week in benefits (our figure is £10m a week. See also Briefing Paper 11.11 - The True Cost of an Amnesty for Illegal Immigrants). It would also cost £6bn to provide the extra social housing needed.

Worse still, it would encourage still further illegal immigration as other countries have found. Italy has granted five amnesties in the last twenty years and Spain six; on virtually every occasion there were more applications each time. The report has no answer to this. it just remarks that it would only happen if border controls were ineffective.

But that is exactly the position we still face. We issue two million visas a year and there will be no full checks on departure until 2014, obviously, those granted an amnesty would be replaced at the drop of a hat.

The public have the common sense to see this. Our opinion poll showed seventy per cent opposed to an amnesty.

The recent European elections must surely be a lesson to the political class that they can no longer ride roughshod over public opinion with absurd, expensive and self-defeating proposals such as these. It seems that Boris Johnson is trying to buy the immigrant vote with taxpayer's money. They will know how to respond to this.'

Amnesty for illegal immigrants could cost taxpayers 'Up to £1m' per family

At a time when the Government debt is at record levels, new research shows that the Mayor of London’s proposals for an amnesty for illegal immigrants would cost taxpayers, on average, an extra £1 million over the lifetime of each immigrant.

The calculation, by think tank Migrationwatch has, for the first time, estimated the ‘lifetime cost’ to the taxpayer of a 25 year old illegal immigrant who marries and has two children while earning close to the minimum wage.

Such an amnesty, for potentially up to a million people, has been proposed by a number of organisations and individuals but they have failed to consider the ‘hidden costs’ which will have massive implications for the public finances, says the report.

Our calculations show 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”, ’ said Sir Andrew Green, Migrationwatch chairman.

Sir Andrew said that the paper concentrated on the costs of an amnesty for illegal immigrants but the figures are equally applicable to many of those who are granted asylum in Britain. While some will have qualifications and will be able to earn considerably more than the minimum wage, for others the entitlements, and therefore the costs, will be the same adding further to the demands on the public purse. This makes the failure of the Home Office to be represented at many asylum appeals all the more reprehensible.

The Migrationwatch paper examines the ‘total lifetime’ cost of a 25 year old immigrant who works for the minimum wage, marries, has two children, does not have a pension and therefore in retirement receives Pension Credit, and lives throughout in private rented housing. The calculations in this paper take the costs from the date of marriage at aged 25 through 40 years of work to retirement at 65 years of age and then 15 years of retirement.

The major component of the costings is Housing Benefit. An immigrant couple living on the minimum wages who then retire on Pension Credit, will receive Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit throughout their working life and throughout their retirement. The total Housing Benefit they receive will be £291,000 plus a further £19,000 in Council Tax Benefit.

In London, where some 70% of illegal immigrants are believed to live, the costs are even greater. As rents are considerably higher in the capital the total lifetime costs for a two child family resident in London is £1.1million, of which £505,000 is Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit.

'Clearly some of these immigrants will already be married, or will not marry, and some will work above the minimum wage so that their Housing Benefit will be lower,’ said Sir Andrew. ‘On the other hand some may have families of more than two children, thereby attracting more Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit (which amounts to £2,925 per annum per additional child or £47,000 over the first 16 years of the child’s life). Or they may be unemployed – immigrants are, on average, more likely to be economically inactive than the population as a whole,’ he said.

For example compared with the UK average of 22% of the working age population being economically inactive, Somali, Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Iranian immigrants are likely to be 81%, 56%, 55% and 48% economically inactive respectively.

'It is clear that not only is rewarding illegal behaviour wrong in principle but the experience of Spain and Italy shows conclusively that it encourages even more illegal immigration in anticipation of future amnesties. This is a ridiculous proposal which is bound to increase illegal immigration rather than reduce it. It is also a shocking waste of public money at a time when we can least afford it,' said Sir Andrew.

Migrant stock has doubled since 1991 Immigration problem 'Home Grown' - not a result of Globalisation

The cause of the highest levels of immigration the UK has ever seen is not, as the government claims, global population movement but rather a series of failures of Government policies, says a new report out today from think tank Migrationwatch – “How did immigration get out of control?"

Now that immigration regularly features high on the list of public concerns the Government have tried to promote the view that world trends have been responsible for a trebling of net foreign immigration since 1997. However, the report demonstrates that this is simply a ‘smokescreen’ to disguise the way in which UK immigration and asylum policy has been mismanaged for a decade.

'The government seems to make a habit of blaming current ills on ‘global forces’ but our analysis shows that this problem is almost entirely ‘home grown’. It could, and should, have been more competently managed, so preventing the rising tide of resentment among the public,’ said Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migrationwatch.

The report shows that the percentage of the world population who are international migrants increased somewhat - from 2.5% in 1960 to 3.0 percent in 2005. The pattern in Britain has been quite different. The percentage of migrants in the UK – that is persons born outside the country - increased by only just over 1% in the first 30 years - from 4.5% in 1961 to 5.8 % in 1991. It then accelerated, doubling to 11% in 2008.

The report also demonstrates that comparisons with major European countries are often irrelevant because their demography is completely different. For example, the population of Germany would decline by 25% in mid century without immigration, whereas that of France and the UK would still increase.

Until 1997 it was the policy of successive British governments to minimise immigration into the UK, subject to the needs of the labour market and obligations to dependants and international conventions. Indeed, until 1996 government statisticians assumed in their population projections that net immigration would be zero over the long term.

Since then a series of policy measures has contributed to the rapid increase in immigration:

Embarkation controls – because of the total abolition of embarkation controls (begun in 1994 and completed in 1998) foreigners arriving on time limited visas became aware that there was no check on their departure and, as Mr Blunkett- then Home Secretary - later admitted on television, the government now has "no idea" who is in Britain.

The Primary Purpose Rule – in 1997 the requirement that the applicant should show "that the marriage was not entered into primarily to obtain admission to the United Kingdom" was abolished. Immigration by spouses has increased by over 50% since then.

Asylum – control of the asylum system was lost for several years so contributing considerably to net immigration, particularly when dependants are included. The number whose claim is rejected still exceeds the number removed.

Economic migration - Since about 2000, the government have specifically encouraged the arrival of economic migrants. The number of work permits issued has trebled since 1997.

East European workers - the forecast of numbers coming to the UK was wrong by a factor of at least 10 when, unlike most EU partners, the Government failed to impose any transitional controls over numbers.

'Many people are at a loss to know how all this was allowed to happen’, said Sir Andrew. ‘The true story is that the government has held public opinion in contempt for years. Despite having dismantled border controls, they deliberately encouraged immigration, partly to make the economic growth figures look better. The fact that the extra population cancelled out any real benefit to the resident population was repeatedly denied until exposed by a major investigation last April by the highly authoritative Economic Affairs Committee of the House of Lords,’ said Sir Andrew. ‘We now face a massive increase in population just as our economy is struggling. Some apologies from the government would be in order.’

Public gives thumbs down to amnesty for illegal immigrants. New study shows amnesty would cost up to £4 billion a year.

Seven out of ten adults disagree that there should be an amnesty for illegal immigrants, a new YouGov poll has found. The research, commissioned by Migrationwatch UK,found that only one in ten people agree with the idea. In London, the poll found that 64 per cent opposed an amnesty.Just one in six Londoners supported the idea of an amnesty, which was recently proposed by Mayor Boris Johnson; only one in twenty strongly agreed.

The poll was published along with new research, which shows that an amnesty for illegal immigrants, or “undocumented workers” would cost £2 billion in its first full year of operation. As those concerned married and had families, the costs could rise to £4 billion a year.

Those granted an amnesty would be immediately entitled to apply for social housing, adding at least half a million to the waiting list (which is already over 1.5 million for England alone). They would also be entitled to bring over their families, thus moving up the queue which is largely based on “need”. Meanwhile they would be entitled to Housing Benefit which is included in this calculation.

Sir Andrew Green, Chairman of Migrationwatch UK, said:

Clearly the British public can see that to reward people with a meal ticket for life for breaking our laws is an absurd proposition. It will only encourage others to come and take their place in the hope of a further amnesty. That is exactly what has happened in Italy which has granted five amnesties in the past twenty years and Spain which has granted six.

Claims of “a huge increase in tax revenues” are ludicrous when benefit payments are taken into account. So proponents of an amnesty are left only with their claim to be advancing the cause of social justice. However, the real victims are British workers whose wages are held down or perhaps their job opportunities taken by people who came or remained here illegally of their own volition.

"As we enter a recession, competition for work by illegal immigrants should be reduced, not encouraged. The government and Opposition are absolutely right to oppose this ill-considered scheme. The only amnesty worth considering is an amnesty on departure – allowing people already here illegally to leave within a defined window without fear of arrest for immigration offences.”/P>

See Notes to Editors

We must create a culture of solidarity, not offer amnesties

Editorial from The Catholic Herald of 28 November, 2008

"Showing respect for the dignity and civil rights of immigrants to this country is not an option for Catholics: it is a non-negotiable responsibility that arises from the message of Christ and our own dignity as human beings. Immigration policy, on the other hand, is a question for civil society that falls within the remit of politicians. Sometimes it is hard to distinguish between upholding the inalienable rights of immigrants (including illegal ones) and calling for controversial changes to policy in this area. Yet the Church must try to do so. Indeed, it must try harder."

To see the full article go to Migration Watch UK web site.