I was delighted to be invited onto the BBC London 94.9fm Dotun Adebayo show this evening along with Simon Woolley of Operation Black Vote to speak about the immigration stop-checks at London stations this week.
In common with many people I believe the eye-witnesses who saw the Home Office immigration officials racially profiling people. Home Office minister Mark Harper continues to claim that this action was “intelligence-led” but all the evidence is to the contrary. People were pulled over because of their skin color and being black was, to those officials, “reasonable suspicion” enough.
This gives a free pass to illegal immigrants who happen to be White, for example overstayers from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States. But the main impact has been on ordinary Londoners. Black and Asian Londoners who are furious at being viewed with suspicion simply on grounds of their colour, and many White Londoners who object strongly to what they see taking place in this multicultural city.
As I said on BBC London radio, the stop-checks and raids are taking us into dangerous territory where people of color will have to carry ID to prove they are not illegal immigrants while others go about their daily business without such fear. This can only create division and incite racial tensions.
Londoners of all backgrounds were united in their condemnation of the ‘racist-van’, and so too progressive White and minority ethnic citizens were joined by their abhorrence at yet another dog-whistle pre-election Tory gimmick which badly misjudges the mood and attitudes of the capital city.
There is no ‘intelligence’ involved in pulling black and Asian people over. Quite the opposite, it destroys the cooperation with BAME communities who can provide the intelligence of where the sweat-shops are.
Targeting BAME people and driving the ‘Go Home’ billboard van through the capital’s most multicultural areas effectively demonises those communities and says to them that they may not be an illegal immigrant but their community is part of the problem, and that is just plain wrong.
As newly-appointed peer Doreen Lawrence has said these immigration spot-checks are “racist and intimidatory”. The Home Office exercise gives the impression that Black Londoners are second-class citizens to be viewed as potential criminals on appearance alone no matter how many generations their family has lived here. The Government has already roped in Crimestoppers to catch illegal immigrants.
I believe the way these immigration checks are being carried out is racially-inflammatory, flouts the spirit if not the letter of equalities laws. The EHRC believe that the Home Office may have flouted the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) which is a power that, ironically, the Government set up a Tory-dominated working group to review and which I understand will recommend that the PSED is abolished.
It is all about the Tories creating a ‘Hostile Environment’ for immigrants regardless of the consequences of creating exactly the same environment for British-born Black Londoners. I welcome the fact that the Equality and Human Rights Commission are investigating both the stop-checks and the billboard van and have written to the Home Office to demand an explanation. The EHRC should take the Government to court over breaching equalities laws.
The prospect of legal action would be strengthened if it is combined with action against racial-profiling by border control staff at ports of entry, after all it is the same officials standing outside London stations. In many ways they were simply taking the attitudes they practice every day in airports and transposing this onto the capital’s streets.
Wearing stab-vests the officials looked like they were prepared for a war-zone as they parked themselves at the entrances of London stations in areas with high BAME populations such as Walthamstow. This has echoes of the boroughs chosen for the Go Home van, which were almost without exception areas the most diverse and multicultural in our city.
The Home Office gleefully tweeted photographs of people being arrested (see above) using the hashtag #immigrationoffenders thereby effectively branding them criminals even though of the 9,000 immigration-related arrests last year just one in ten led to any action. Or in other words 9 out of 10 were in Britain perfectly legally. This further emphasises how un-intelligence-led the immigration service is.
Dave Garratt, the chief executive of charity Refugee Action, said this week:
“Over the last few weeks we’ve seen some very visible signs of the government’s ‘hostile environment’ crusade. There have been vans out on the streets with threatening slogans and, reportedly, non-white people being visibly stopped and searched.
“The Home Office is responsible for community cohesion. Yet we are increasingly seeing what appears to be hostility towards non-white immigration, which will do nothing but incite racial tensions and divisions within otherwise rich and diverse communities.”
Even UKIP are saying the stop and checks are “despicable.” The Lib Dems, from Nick Clegg and Vince Cable to ordinary party members, were united in disgust at the Go Home vans and made clear they were not consulted. Similarly many Lib Dems have expressed anger at the way these immigration checks are being carried out but that has not stopped the Tories, not least because it is more than an operational issue but is in fact part of their political strategy leading up to the 2015 general election.
In many ways this shows the limitations of the Coalition in terms of the Lib Dems being able to curb the worst excesses of the Tories. We have been effective on several issues but on this issue we seem unable to get David Cameron and his election advisor Lynton Crosby to change course.
What we have seen, ever since the UK Border Agency was scrapped and brought into Theresa May’s Home Office, is the politicisation of immigration in a manner that creates division and dismay in communities and boosts the prospects of May’s future leadership bid while poisoning the coming election with a potentially toxic issue.
The message from the Tories is clear: if you want an illegal immigrant for a neighbor vote Labour or Lib Dem. As the immigration stop checks show, just because we are not illegal immigrants does not mean they will not come for us. And just as fascists make no definition between immigrants and citizens before they attack someone, by a similar token the Home Office is profiling everyone they see who happens to be of color.
This isn’t about illegal working. Of course the illegal economy needs tackling but the way to do this is to allow immigrants to work legally rather than keep them on the margins of society in an under-world where they are exploited.
The fines for employers must be seen in the same context as fines for landlords who house illegal immigrants or the forthcoming ban on health treatment; it is less about stopping exploitation and more about further criminalising people who may well be here for legitimate reasons having fled persecution abroad.
We really need to stand up against this targeting of London’s diverse communities and I certainly hope that Lib Dems in government, including Home Office minister Jeremy Browne, follow up their condemnation of Tory behavior with real action to prevent the Tories going any further down this road.
By Lester Holloway @brolezholloway
