"Migration is a dignity seeking journey"
Immigration
While there has always been hostility towards those not born in our country from some corners of the UK, in recent pre-referendum times it seemed, from my somewhat admittedly sheltered experience, that the bigotry had lessened to a degree and that people had educated themselves towards the plight of those less fortunate. I’m not suggesting for a second it had disappeared, however, it was, for the most part, deemed unacceptable to air such opinions at least. News reports would talk about the humanitarian disasters and loss of life from those trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea or the Channel. Parliament would discuss aid packages the consensus seemed to be we should help, even if that was as far as it actually went.
Not now. Now we live deep within the dark Brexit Era where it now seems acceptable to talk about immigration as a catch all term with the connotation being that those wanting to enter the UK as simply lesser lifeforms trying to steal or convert us to their heathen ways. Lost are the real reasons behind this often-unavoidable migration. Lost, it feels, are the voices of reason reminding us that these are people as well, no matter where they came from.
In this blog piece I want to look at “immigration”. I put that word in quotes because it seems to have lost its real meaning. I want to reacquaint people with the different legal classifications for how people enter the country and try to start using the right words again. Brexit is often described as a way to regain control of immigration, so I will take a look at what we can already do as part of the EU, and how much of it we apply, as well as what additional powers we will have if we do exit the EU.
Lastly I will look at how Brexit has changed the perception of immigration and why it seems to be more acceptable to voice bigoted and racist views and what we can do to try and combat this unwanted side of UK culture.
Not all migrants are the same
The word immigrant or migrant is often used to describe anyone trying to enter the country on permanent of semi-permanent basis. Added to this is an undertone of barely concealed animosity towards what are after all people.
While the basic dictionary definition of immigration is trying to enter a country not of one’s origin to stay. According to The Migration Observatory, “There is no definition of ‘migrant’ or of ‘immigrant’ in law.”[1] Also, it seems to me that the generic term does not cover the reasons for moving which are fundamentally important when discussing this subject. For example, there is a big difference between an economic migrant and a refugee, but that distinction seems to have been lost when using the catch all term of immigration. So, let’s look at some of the main definitions of immigration.
· Refugee – A Refugee is someone fleeing their own country because of a natural disaster, war or some other catastrophe, which has left them without a home, or in the most extreme cases without a country. These people have nothing and are simply looking to survive. These are the majority of people climbing into unsafe tiny boats and being thrown out to sea by evil men. Many die on these long and dangerous journeys. But they have been left with no choice, their homes are gone, and bombs are still dropping. Disease and the true dregs of humanity are preying on them. What would you do? What would you risk, to save your family?
· Asylum Seeker – This is someone whose motivation for entering the country is based on persecution in their own country. Maybe they are gay but that is deemed illegal in their country (in most cases they can thank the British Empire for that), or maybe they believe in free speech or freedom of the press, but their government is now out to kill or jail them. These are people seeking protection not from war but from their own government or their own people for what they believe or how they were born. They have been left with no choice but to leave their place of birth.
· Economic immigrant – Someone looking for a better life and job. They maybe don’t face persecution in their own country but are seeking to make a better life for themselves or their family by using their skills in another country. It should be noted that this type of immigrant contributes to the economy of the country they are in via taxes. In this case it could also be that the persons family migrates with them.
· Student immigrant – Maybe not the right term here, but what this covers is foreign people taking offered places at UK higher education facilities. They often stay in the country for years to complete their studies. In some cases, they could apply to stay, working and living permanently. They then become economic immigrants using their UK learned skill to benefit our country and society.
· Illegal immigrant – This is someone who has tried to enter the country via illegal means and is attempting to stay without informing the government. It does not cover the reason for the entering the country just the type of entry. It should be noted here that as the entry was illegal the immigrant in this case cannot claim benefits, buy property and any job they can find has to be cash in hand as they cannot be registered as an actual employee. It is also unlikely that they would attempt to use NHS services as they wouldn’t be registered on the system, meaning they could be found out.
There are other definitions however, these five cover the vast majority of migration to the UK and other countries. The main other type of migration would be British nationals returning to the UK after an extended period abroad. While technically still migration from one country to another they are not being considered as part of this article.
What immigration laws are there within the EU
Brexit, according to the Leave campaign, is supposed to set our laws and lawmakers free and allow us to secure our borders against the influx of immigrants we have seen since joining the EU. But before we abandon our close alliance with the EU, let’s take a look at what immigration powers we already have.
For this I will break immigration into two main sources, EU and non-EU. That is to say those who are citizens of fellow EU countries and those who are not. As the graph below shows at its peak before the referendum EU net migration accounted for around 189K people while at the same time non-EU net migration accounted for 196K people entering the country.
After the referendum EU migration dropped significantly whilst non-EU has in the main continued to rise. What this shows is that EU citizens are worried that they are no longer welcome and that they cannot guarantee that they will be allowed to stay long term.
Under EU law Freedom of Movement allows citizens of EU nations to move between those countries showing nothing more than valid photo ID. However, there are limitations to this freedom. The following is taken from the europarl.europa.eu website[2]
· For stays of under three months: the only requirement for Union citizens is that they possess a valid identity document or passport. The host Member State may require the persons concerned to register their presence in the country.
· For stays of over three months: EU citizens and their family members — if not working — must have sufficient resources and sickness insurance to ensure that they do not become a burden on the social services of the host Member State during their stay. Union citizens do not need residence permits, although Member States may require them to register with the authorities. Family members of Union citizens who are not nationals of a Member State must apply for a residence permit, valid for the duration of their stay or a five-year period.
This means that if you want to stay longer than 3 months you need to find a legitimate job and be paying taxes to stay in that country or have enough money and health insurance so that you are not costing the host nation money. There are circumstances where they can claim job-seekers allowance but to do so must have already had a job which they lost through no fault of their own (ie. you can’t be fired or just quit).
This also means that if you don’t have the means to stay and don’t have a job that host nation can send you back to your home country. So, under EU Law you are not allowed to become a drain on your host country, and they can deport you. Brexiteers would have you believe that all EU migrants have become a drag on our welfare system that can do nothing about. This is quite clearly wrong. The UK has the power to remove people that are deemed not to be contributing to the country. Therefore, if there is a problem it is up the UK government to use the powers it already has, not make some grandiose and clear false claim about reclaiming our borders.
But what about the Non-EU immigrants? They don’t come under the jurisdiction of EU law therefore we already have control in this area.
So, with EU law on our side to remove non-contributing EU immigrants while allowing free access for those making statistically better contributions that our own citizens what exactly is it, we are apparently trying to solve with Brexit? Seriously tell me because I can’t see it. If there is a problem, it is with the way the UK government is either badly implementing or just not implementing the laws we already have. In fact, according to UK government figures[3] only 3,637 EU immigrants were “returned” in the year ending March 2019. That is down 883 on the previous years figure of 4,123, and that was down 1,152 on the year before that. Not much considering the numbers entering, but it still shows the UK has the authority to act, whether it chooses to use it or not, that is another discussion.
How Brexit has affected the perception of immigration
I now want to turn this away from fact and figures. People are more than statistics. The truth is that racists hate. Some hate because of ignorance and others beause they have little else. Those who have made part of themselves will never be swayed by the facts that show the positive contribution of immigration. But while thise nasty element of our society has always existed in more recent times it at least seemed small and unacceptable. So, why now does it seem to be becoming more mainstream? Why has Brexit given these people a voice? Why has their mantra of hate become almost common place and, in some areas, even acceptable?
It comes back to the way in which the EU referendum campaigns were conducted. While the Remain side tried to scare people with a picture of hardships and lost jobs, forgetting to show the positives of what EU membership brings, the Leave side spread the lies of sovereignty and “taking back control”. This quickly became synonymous with taking back control of borders and stopping immigration, which in turn gave a voice to those wishing to spread a story that immigrants where the cause of all our woes.
Immigrants didn’t cause austerity or the loss of thousands of jobs resulting from the 2008 financial crash. In the words of comedian Frankie Boyle[4], “It was the fucking banks!”.
The financial crash had many causes but essentially the bankers played fast and loose with everyone’s money and when the whole system looked set to fall apart the then Labour government stepped in to shore up the Banks, because while we all hate a cocky banker having all the banks fail at once would have been a bigger disaster. From there we then had the Tories blame Labour for spending that money to shore up what strangely was essentially the Tories mates before they then decided that it was all the poor people who should pay for it through austerity instead of the Bankers who fucked it all up in the first place.
Those blaming immigrants initially did so in simplistic terms, making it seem like 1+1=2, unfortunately life doesn’t work that way. Just because the fruit pickers earn minimum wage, doesn’t mean they are taking all the jobs from UK citizens. What it does mean it they are prepared to travel around the EU visiting countries seasonally to sustain themselves. There is no permanent position to pick fruit that can only be harvested one month a year.
But this didn’t stop people listening and beginning to believe the simple but wrong message. This then led angrier voices take it a step further with slightly racist messages appearing. The even angrier voices appear and before you know it we had people like Tommy Robinson walking around the streets spouting hate and lies and nobody is stopped them. But it doesn’t end there. Because of these more extremist elements people like Nigel Farage, who is still spreading racist messages and lies, seem to become more mainstream. But, do you know what the difference is between a slightly racist message and an out and out racist one is? Nothing. Both should be and are unacceptable in modern society.
Brexit and the Leave campaign has given a voice to the angry and the once hated within our society. We need to find a way to put them back in their box before they do so much damage to our country that it can’t be repaired. But you can't fight hate with hate. We must all stand together and spread the word that immigration is a positive force and that peoples fears can be addressed within the existing framework. We must educate the next generation in a positive way to ensure that racist views are combated with the facts which disprove them.
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