ࡱ> \^[` Hbjbjss .\@2:&:&:&:&N&4220&^&&&&&L8(\(02222222$3h6d)20&&00)2&&>21110&&2102111&& ;&V:&012T202161.61161((R+1,T. ((()2)21(((2000022262226222 CAMPAIGN UPDATE NO. 2 FEB 2007 Dear Supporter, I hope you like the smart new logo. Other smart things are on their way : the website ( HYPERLINK "http://www.strangersintocitizens.org.uk/" \o "http://www.strangersintocitizens.org.uk/" www.strangersintocitizens.org.uk) which should go live next week; and a leaflet soon too. We are planning a DVD, and other ways of publishing the many stories we have received which illustrate even better than all the political and economic arguments the compelling case for an earned amnesty law. The attached document is a summary of the campaign (an easier read than the last one) - please print it off and give it to people you think may be interested. MEDIA STORIES ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN As well as being on the front page of The Voice this week ( HYPERLINK "http://www.voice-online.co.uk/content.php?show=10794" \o "http://www.voice-online.co.uk/content.php?show=10794" http://www.voice-online.co.uk/content.php?show=10794), BBC World Service has done a piece on us, as has Black Britain (http://www.blackbritain.co.uk). All contained interviews with migrants whose stories we have been sharing. Expect to see the campaign mentioned and discussed increasingly in the next few weeks. LATIN-AMERICANS ON BOARD I have been busy meeting Latin-American community leaders in London after Paul Fierro, an Ecuadorian church leader who runs a Spanish-language radio programme called Radio Vision, got in touch. The meeting led to a two-hour discussion on his programme, with many Latin-Americans calling in with stories which made a compelling case for regularization people who have been here for years, yet are forced to live in an inhuman shadow world. Together with my London Citizens colleague Julie Camacho ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Julie.camacho@londoncitizens.org.uk" \o "mailto:Julie.camacho@londoncitizens.org.uk" Julie.camacho@londoncitizens.org.uk), Paul is busy advertising the campaign among the many Latin-American communities in London, and ensuring that they are well represented from that continent. The summary of the campaign is being translated into Spanish and Portuguese. If you know of Latin-Americans who may be interested in receiving it, or in sharing their stories, or being involved in any other way in the campaign, please ask them to contact Julie. Paul and Julie are in charge of the Latin-American section of Strangers into Citizens. Id be glad to know of community leaders and organizations of other ethnic communities in London or elsewhere who you think might be interested in forming a Strangers into Citizens section. BORDERS BILL More and more MPs and organizations are coming forward to give their support a full list will be published on the website when its up. A number of MPs spoke out in favour of regularization during the second reading of the UK Borders Bill on Tuesday. There was an interesting exchange between Jon Cruddas MP, who supports our campaign, and John Denham MP, who chairs the Home Affairs Select Committee: Cruddas pointed out that that in London alone there are some 320,000 unregularised migrants, many of whom will be working. If the Governments proposed new clampdown on illegal working is successful, he went on, there is the possibility that we will push tens of thousands of people out of work who have no status in society, and that that will become a major public policy issue for social services and councils. What remedy might there be for that, he asked, other than an amnesty? Denham agreed that there would be a major public policy issue and said: I do not pretend that I have all the answers. I have raised this issue with the Minister. There must be a strategy for dealing with such a situation. But, he added, the alternative, which is simply to regularise everybodys position, would lead to another 320,000 people turning up within the space of a few months or a few years in the expectation that the same would happen to them. Neil Gerrard, Labour MP for Walthamstow, answered that a little later in the debate. My right hon. Friend said that he would rule out an amnesty because it would become a magnet. I have heard that sort of argument before, but it does not necessarily convince me if the rules are made clear enough. For example, in recent years, there was effectively an amnesty for asylum seeker families with children who had been here a certain length of time and whose children had been born before a particular date. I do not see any evidence at all that that led to lots more people coming to this country with their families to seek asylum because they thought that there might be another amnesty in two or three years. I am not necessarily convinced that an amnesty has to act as a magnet if the rules are made clear. We think our criteria four years residence plus the two-year pathway would certainly make the rules clear, and not act as a magnet. The most interesting part of this debate was that it was happening at all. According to the Home Office, regularization is off the cards; unofficially, it is being discussed. Denham admitted as much when he said: We are having a debate on this issue in this country, but it needs to be raised across the EU. STRANGERS INTO CITIZENS is generating and informing that debate and as the weeks pass, it will get stronger, building up to 7 May. Keith Best of the Immigration Advisory Service sums up the opportunity which the Borders Bill gives us to open up debate on the issue. In a statement at the end of January he said the bill was an opportunity for the Government to grasp the issue of those contributing to our economy but without the right to work. Keith called on Government to consider a regularisation scheme for such people, granting them a temporary status subject to possible renewal if they come forward and can show that they are making a continuing contribution and have not become involved in criminal activity other than working illegally. This would enable the Government to start with a clean sheet, he said and he added another incentive: It would remove the embarrassment of Ministers having no idea of how many illegal workers there are in the UK. Irresistible, surely? GROWING ALLIANCE WITH BUSINESS We have always realized that support from business is key to the campaign as it has been in the United States. As one very senior member of Government recently put it to us: An alliance of faith and business thats pretty formidable. We are currently in discussions with some big hotel groups, who along with other business sectors are concerned about the implications of the Governments crackdown on illegal labour, discussed by Parliament last Tuesday. The boss of one cleaning company with a contract in a major London theatre told us how the immigration authorities warned him they would be doing a dawn raid. He wasnt too worried he had checked everyones papers, and most of his workers had been with him for years. The officials came and put everyone up against a wall. They decided that six of them were illegal, and carted them off in front of visitors to the theatre. One person who has witnessed a crackdown of this sort told me: Its very disturbing. Its even more disturbing for those who are arrested and detained. As our stories show, many of them are people with many years in this country, who have paid taxes, are part of our society, and are making a huge contribution. But this is just as much an issue for the employers. I was contacted recently by an Asian gentleman who has been working for seven years in a major supermarket in London. We are likely to hear more and more of these stories as the Government imposes fines on businesses which employ illegal workers. George we shall call him came to the UK because he married a UK national seven years ago in India. But the marriage didnt work out. By that time, he had begun working in the supermarket. He was reassured that the Home Office would look kindly on an application to stay. He wrote to the Home Office, but received no reply. George, who is 33, has been ever sending home regular as clockwork - $50 a month to help his ageing mother. As his supermarket is happy to attest, he is a highly valued employee, reliable and hardworking. Suddenly last month, after seven years, as part of a general review, the supermarket asked him to prove he has the right to work. If he cannot prove it, he will be out of a job. A lot of things have changed in India since I left, he says, explaining why he cant go back. Now you need decent skills IT training and so on. There is nothing for me there now. This is my home. England, he says, is a good country. Its a country where you can make a new life. He is looking for a lawyer now to help make the case for him, but is overwhelmed at the cost. Half of his salary will go on legal fees, and I dont know whats at the end of it all. George feels depressed and stressed. He had plans for a better job and to develop his skills. But right now all that has vanished. I just need some certainty, he says. FREEING UP OUR JAMMED ASYLUM SYSTEM As the stories reach us, it seems more and more obvious that an earned amnesty is the solution to the incredible paralysis that exists in the asylum system. People who made claims four or five or more years ago have been left hanging in limbo, unable to work except illegally and either living on miserly state support or (in many cases) deprived even of that. A leading immigration lawyer told me last week that our regularization proposal is the only way to deal with the horrendous backlog in asylum applications remaining from six, seven, eight years ago. Those stuck in the system are unable to build new lives. They are forced to wait around for years, prevented from working, and so dependent on the charity of friends or taxpayers money. Marie, a French-speaker from the Cameroon, contacted me recently with an appalling story which illustrates the bizarre choices thousands face as long as there is no earned amnesty. She arrived in Britain in 2003 after a rape case she brought against a relative turned nasty and she was threatened. While her claim was being considered, she began working for MacDonalds and took a second job as a caretaker. In MacDonalds she did well, rising quickly to manager. My boss liked me, she says. I worked hard, was reliable, and the customers liked me. In the meantime, her claim was refused, and subsequently her appeal. But having no other means of support, she carried on working, earning now 7 an hour. After about a year working in MacDonalds the police arrived with the immigration authorities and arrested her. She has no idea who reported on her, or why. In 2004 she was taken to the police station, and jailed for four days (it was really cold, she says). She was then taken to Gatwick detention centre, where she assumed during the week she spent there that she would be put on a plane home. Instead, she was taken to another detention centre Oakington, near Cambridge. In Gatwick, at least they cared, she says. But in Oakington it was awful. The officers shouted at you, treated us very badly, told us to eat the food. We felt like dogs. She was there only a week before being released in May. She went back to live with her friend, cast into limbo. Having no financial support, having been told she was not allowed to work, and not wishing to be a burden on her friend, she applied to the Home Office for financial assistance. They told her that because she had been caught working illegally, she was not eligible. So I have been dependent on my friend since then, she says. In 2004 she received another letter, telling her to present herself to the immigration authorities in October 2007. She has no idea what will happen to her when she does. They might arrest me, they might deport me, she says. Or again they might not who knows? It cannot possibly make sense to leave people with a set of impossible options: return home to face danger or stay in limbo. Live off a friend, or work illegally. You read in the newspapers that people like me just come here to live on benefits, says Marie. But we dont want to live on benefits. We want to work, make a contribution, better ourselves and serve society. Immigration lawyers tell me that cases like Maries are two a penny. Its time for a clean sweep just like the family amnesty of 2003. Holland and Germany have done it - why cant we? Independent Asylum Commission So many of you know stories like Maries. This is a good moment to bring to your attention the work of my colleagues Jonathan and Roxanne, who are co-ordinating a citizens enquiry into the asylum system. They want to hear your experiences of it whether you are an asylum seeker or are involved in any other way. Have a look at their site -  HYPERLINK "http://www.independentasylumcommission.org.uk/" \o "http://www.independentasylumcommission.org.uk/" www.independentasylumcommission.org.uk/ - which shows you how to contact them, and lists forthcoming public hearings. HAS YOUR ORGANIZATION SIGNED THE PLEDGE? Thank you to all the organizations which have sent in their pledges of support. If you know of an organization that you think would like to offer its support, please ask them to sign the attached and send it in. Well be putting the names of supporting organizations on our website next week. Thank you, too, to everyone who is asking for support from churches, trade unions, civic associations, charities, schools, and other organizations. The London Assembly is bringing a motion to support. Various Amnesty International groups are voting on it as are trade unions. I have some MODEL MOTIONS that can be used for this. MORE STORIES PLEASE Thank you to everyone who has been interviewing irregular migrants who have been here for four years or more, and for sending me their stories. Thank you to those in this position who have sent me your stories. Remember your experience of asylum is not the main item of interest (but it may be to my colleagues at the Independent Asylum Commission). What we want to hear are your experiences of being illegal: how you live, survive, work. We will change your name and miss out any details which could identify you and we will check that youre happy before we use your stories. We want to publish the most interesting ones on our website, and share them with journalists. The British people need to hear. We think when they do hear, they will be sympathetic to the idea of an earned amnesty for people who have made new lives in the UK. And that will create a new political climate one which encourages an incoming Government to take an initiative which has so many obvious humanitarian, economic and other benefits. It has happened before. It can happen again. A HISTORIC MOMENT TO UNBIND THE ENSLAVED Look out for stories in the next few weeks on the story of the movement to abolish the slave trade 200 years ago. That all started as ours has by a group of people meeting and setting out to change history. We are those people supported by a huge network of organizations around the country which have been making these arguments for years. Its time to bring them altogether in one simple, easy-to-grasp proposal which we think can convert public opinion. STRANGERS INTO CITIZENS DATES FOR YOUR DIARY People involved in steering the Strangers into Citizens campaign are meeting this Saturday, 10 February, at the Friends Meeting House, 175 Euston Road in London just opposite Euston Station. If you would like to come, please let me know  HYPERLINK "mailto:austen.ivereigh@cof.org.uk" \o "mailto:austen.ivereigh@cof.org.uk" austen.ivereigh@cof.org.uk. On 20 March, Strangers into Citizens will feature strongly in the Birmingham Citizens Assembly in Birmingham. By then, we expect to be able to show off our allies, our testimonies, and our DVD and make a call for regularization that will become part of the national conversation in the following weeks. Please keep your eyes fixed on 7 May its a chance for all our supporters to join us in London on the streets, for the biggest ever demonstration of and for migrants in British history. PLEASE TELL YOUR FRIENDS NOW so they put it in their diaries. Meanwhile happy campaigning! (.0We !  & 2 3 hiJP^̭̭̽̽̌zmz_z̭̭̽̽̽h.0JOJQJmH sH h.>*OJQJmH sH "jh.>*OJQJUmH sH h.6OJQJ]mH sH #h.0JB*OJQJmH phsH jh.OJQJUmH sH h.5OJQJ\mH sH h.OJQJmH sH "h.CJOJQJ^JaJmH sH h@h.5mH sH h@5mH sH "./0ABC0 1 34N$a$gd.gd.HNOP]^_]^te"^j !t"#$a$gd.gd.$a$gd.gd. '++ ,._9}9:::F;G;n;o;;;]>r>BBDDEEFF8F9FIF`FuGG1HFHHH㰢㰢h+fh.5:OJQJ\mH sH h.0JOJQJmH sH jh.OJQJUmH sH h.5;OJQJ\h.OJQJh.5OJQJ\mH sH h.OJQJmH sH h.B*OJQJmH phsH '##${$_%%&''((Y)Z)$*%*{*|*5+6+++++ ,v->..//$a$gd.gd.gd./(0)0(1)111d2e233Z4\4556666(7788]9^9_9}9$a$gd.gd.`gd.gd.}9:;;;=='>]>^>r>F??@AAxBBBBCC-DDDD*phB^@B . 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