Open%20borders%20The%20case%20against%20immigration%20controls%20-%20Teresa%20Hayter

x Open Borders
and then Iraqis (in the months before the US/British invasion of Iraq in March
2003) accounted for almost the entire increase. In 2002 the largest numbers
of applicants were from Iraq, Zimbabwe, Somalia, Afghanistan and China,
in that order. As before, the overwhelming majority come from areas in
which there is severe political persecution or conflict, for which, again, the
West bears much responsibility (see pp. 5–6). If such conditions arise, governments
impose visa requirements on their nationals, as they have done
recently for Zimbabweans, thus making it virtually impossible for refugees
to travel legally to Britain (see pp. 95–105). They are nevertheless fully
entitled to claim asylum under international treaties, and in the last few
years around half of all asylum seekers eventually got refugee status or exceptional
leave to remain (ELR – now replaced by the more restrictive
‘humanitarian protection’). Many more of them ought to do so, but fall foul
of the cruelly unjust and arbitrary system for determining whether they are
‘genuine refugees’ (see pp. 89–95). Those who have, with exceptional
enterprise and courage, managed to flee poverty rather than wars or political
persecution are likely to be similarly the victims of the actions of major
Western powers. The reality is that most asylum seekers, whatever their
reason for migrating, are highly educated and are often dissident members
of the elite. Many take a large drop in their standard of living. They cost
public money almost entirely because of the escalation of the repressive
apparatus which is supposed to stop them coming here, and because they are
no longer allowed to work (see below). If they do work, they are forced to work
long hours for low wages in jobs that do not require their qualifications. The
British are lucky that they come here.
Moreover, whatever the scaremongers may say, the number of asylum
seekers migrating to Britain is relatively small, both compared to refugees
elsewhere in the world and compared to other types of migration to Britain.
Less than 2 per cent of refugees in the world as a whole are in Britain,
although a recent poll showed that people believe the figure is 25 per cent.
According to Home Office statistics on Control of Immigration, there were
84,130 asylum applications in Britain in 2002, which was the peak year. In
the same year, and in each of the preceding five years, there were around 8
million visitors from abroad. There were 1.3 million returning British and
other nationals. 369,000 foreign students were given leave to enter. 235,805
people were given official permission to work in Britain. Yet the Labour
government constantly reiterates that it is doing its best to reduce the numbers,
not of visitors, students, employees of multinational corporations, workers
and so on, but of people applying for asylum. On 7 February 2003, in an
interview on BBC’s Newsnight, the prime minister Tony Blair announced
that the government would halve the number of asylum applications, from
its peak of 8,900 a month in October 2002, by September 2003. It claims
credit for a recent decline in applications (although this is likely to have more
to do with the situation in Iraq).