Hain's Apology For Migration Figures: Storm in a Teacup?

The BBC are certainly making a great deal out of this one (so much for multiculturalism). From their website:

Work and Pensions Secretary Peter Hain has apologised after the government admitted 300,000 more immigrants were working in the UK than it first said.

New figures show that the number of foreign nationals employed in the UK since 1997 is 1.1m, not the 800,000 officially recorded.

Mr Hain has written to his Tory shadow Chris Grayling to admit that incorrect figures were given in Commons answers.

Mr Grayling said the admission was "an extraordinary development".

It comes as the government is expected to extend controls on the number of Romanian and Bulgarian workers coming to the UK.

It has been all over their television out put as well. Just one question: so what? These are workers doing jobs that we cannot be arsed to do. Quite frankly, it is about time we abolished border controls altogether and allowed the free movement of people between artificial boundaries. Do you think the Daily Mail might run with that?

Two Arrested During No Borders March

Taken from UK Indymedia:

No Border campaigners march to Gatwick despite heavy policing

22 September, 2007

For the first time in its 11-year history, Tinsley House immigration detention centre at Gatwick Airport today saw a lively, though short rally in the afternoon. As part of the Gatwick No Border Camp, about 500 people from across the UK marched from Crawley, West Sussex, to Gatwick in a 'transnational day of action against immigration prisons'. They were protesting in particular against a new detention centre that is being built at Gatwick Airport, which is due to open in 2008.

Armed with many banners, placards and leaflets conveying the message that immigration detention is inhumane, they demanded the closure of all immigration prisons and the abolition of the borders that cause all this suffering.

Penned in tiny, designated area along the airport's fence, protesters listened to a number of speeches from ex-detainees and messages of support and defiance. Phone calls from detainees inside Tinsley were then passed on to the crowed via a megaphone. One of the detainees, who has been in the UK for 12 years and had refugee status but is due to be deported after committing a criminal offence and serving his sentence, said: "Why should I be punished twice? I've made a mistake and I've paid for it. Why do I have to pay twice?"

Another detainee, who has been in detention for about 3.5 months and is facing deportation to Angola soon, talked about his suffering in detention and missing his family. He has been in the country for 11 years and has a British wife and three children.

During the rally, the gates were closed to detainees' visitors. Conscious of this, demonstrators sought to make the rally as short as possible in order not to prolong any further disruption to visiting. After the rally, two protesters visited one of those who had communicated with protesters and they were told that detainees were very happy and found the solidarity from people outside bars empowering.

Protest organisers said the policing of the march was "unnecessarily heavy." Two people were arrested under Section 50 of the Police Reform Act 2002 (refusing to give name and address) after being accused by police of acting in an anti-social manner. One of them, who was arrested in Crawley town centre before the march had even started, allegedly threw a rude word at a police officer. The other, who is an independent video-maker, was filming the police and allegedly 'caused distress' to a policeman who himself was filming protesters.

That last line really sums up the nature of the police force in this country. A policeman was 'distressed' because someone was filming him while he was filming the protesters?? Orwellian barely seems to cover it.

No Borders Camp at Gatwick

The media has been awash with stories regarding the latest assault on the immigrant population in the UK. The chief constable of Cambridgeshire police, Julie Spence, claimed that:

"When they arrive they think they can do the same thing as in the country they have come from."

"There were a lot of people who ... because they used to carry knives for protection, they think they can carry knives here.

"We have worked with the communities because they don't necessarily come to commit crime but they need to be told what you can and can't do.

"We can identify a significant rise in drink-drive, which was down to people thinking that what they did where they came from, they could do here."

Essentially, this is the same old rhetoric about those pesky immigrants coming over here and causing trouble. Quite frankly, I couldn't give two shits how many come to this country and make themselves at home here. Which is why I am supporting an airport camp that you might not have heard of.

A little while ago there was a lot of media coverage about the climate camp, and rightly so in my opinion. There has been, however, a distinct lack of coverage on the No Borders camp which has been set up near Gatwick airport. The camp is designed to protest against the siting of a second asylum seeker removal centre near the airport. They have already suffered at the hands of 'dirty tricks' by the local police force who have forced them to move from their original site. However, despite the obstacles placed in their way, the camp aims to continue its protest right through until 24th September. To find out more about their campaign, you can visit their homepage here, which also has instructions on how to participate. If you are unable to attend, please post a link to their site on your homepage. It's time that the establishment's view on controlled immigration was challenged. This is the perfect opportunity to do so.