The widower:Qatada - who had been in prison pending deportation - has been given a 22-hour curfew by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC), the Home Office said.
Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary said she was "extremely disappointed" at the decision and would "take all steps necessary to protect the public
A Filipino man has lost his right to remain in Britain - because his wife was killed by an NHS blunder.
Lawyers for Arnel Cabrera, 39, have confirmed the Home Office has refused his application to stay in the UK.
The verdicts in both these cases are travesties of justice and common sense.
6 comments:
Immigration has always been a difficult topic in this country, including during the years I worked in the Immigration Dept of the Home Office (April 1974 to the end of 1978). It has become completely distorted in recent years, and serves little useful purpose the way it is today.
The correct remedy is of course to bring back the solid policies that have existed in the past, and reinforce them with intelligence from today's society.
In my day we dealt with issues such as Zimbabwe (now there's a familiar country name!) -- and I personally had dealing with Bishop Abel Muzorewa's son (who remembers the bishop?) and had to learn how to spell "Ndabaningi Sithole" among others(!) -- and the Ugandan Asians; so tricky international situations and scenarios are not new.
We should be able to cope competently with today's issues, but no: the extreme Lefties have let in the extremists and daren't touch them beyond a nominal ticking-off or equivalent.
Those of real benefit to this country (and the Filipinos have always been a valuable resource to the UK, ever since they started coming here in significant numbers) are treated differently. Just as indigenous Brits are now second-class citizens in their (our!) own country, so are the "good guys" treated very much worse than the dodgiest of individuals. It's as if the Mafia (or similar) now runs this country.
"How our immigration system works- general feebleness punctuated by bouts of cruelty to pretend that the system is tough."
This is a profound comment and a sentiment that I've shared for many years. However, I don't think this is related specifically to immigration policy or those enforcing the rules.
Indifference and inhumanity pervades the whole of the nanny state mindset. We have top down control only interested in appearance and spin rather than results, and an army of bored, jobsworth enforcers penalised should they ever dare to display any iniative or compassion.
There is no solution other than tearing it all down, and privatising with genuine competition wherever possible, although how this could be done with immigration I don't know.
John Ward, what you are saying about Filipinos reminds me of this old article by the new Mayor of London about attending a London-Filipino event of some kind:
"As Esther Cheong put it, ‘Filipino culture is centred around food, family and God.’ No wonder they face such scorn from the race relations industry: for their self-help, faith and refusal to become victims.
Carmila, one of Esther’s neighbours chipped in: ‘We say that if you come here and make your home here, then you adopt the rules of this country. It’s a pity the Muslims can’t do the same.’
John East, thanks for the comment I agree with all of it. The immigration service does have to be run by central government, but if they ceased trying to perform functions that could be done better by the private sector or local government then they would probably be able to perform the remaining functions better.
I was pleased to discover a couple of weeks ago that your blog had returned.
Thank you, Ross, for the link. What I read was very much in keeping with the nature of those I encountered while working in the Immigration Dept.
Yes, we had the occasional shoplifter, but most were dead straight, solid workers and with a strong (Roman Catholic) faith. It was a joy to deal with their cases -- unlike some I could mention, but won't as they aren't here to defend themselves.
I'm in the latter category right now.
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