Amnesty London

Dave B

Illegal immigrants should be deported. An amnesty would just encourage more. The experiences of Spain and Italy with past amnesties is not encouraging.

TrevorH

There are someproblems which have no solution - or where all solutions are equally bad.

boris is thinking from the standpoint of what is plausible best for London and Cameron tbhib king about what national governments have to be responsible for.

As the man from Cork said when giving directions, "If I were you i would not start from here"

Fergus Pickering

Sometimes they should be deported and sometimes they shouldn't. We have the RIGHT to deport them but wedon' have to do it if we don't want to. I would hand out amnesties one at a time. As it is it seems the drill is to deport respectable people in gainful employment and to keep layabouts and criminals. I supose the fact is that nobody else wants the layabouts and criminals so it's mucj more difficult to get shot of them. There are, after all, plenty of native Britons one would like to send somewhere else. Why, only this week...

Mark Lynch

We've had amnesty's before in this country, they are a short term fix but make the problem far worse in the long term. Still its a great encouragement for those waiting in France about to sneak into the UK knowing Boris will have a British passport waiting for them in London. Make your move now folks Lunar House Immigration firesale now on.

Ted Tedford

TrevorH: I don't think all solutions are equally bad, although I agree that the solutions are unpleasant. But I don't think deporting illegal immigrants - that is, upholding UK law - is as bad as granting an amnesty - which is rewarding illegal behaviour. Yes, there will be hard cases - which is why Fergus is right to suggest it should be on a case-by-case basis.

If we were even to consider an amnesty, the precondition would be that we have proper control of our borders. Any decision would have to be followed by a de facto 'grace' period before implementation, which, however short, would encourage a surge preceding the cut-off date. In our current situation - where we do not have that control - an amnesty would create even more problems.

From my limited personal experience of law enforcement, any type of amnesty is almost intrinsically a sign of desperation. It means you cede initiative to the wrong-doers and undermine your authority in the eyes of law-abiding citizens. In this instance, it would highlight our impotence and lack of resolve.

Harry

We've had amnesties of one sort or another on migrants before as have other countries on the Continent.

Result? Immigration problems go through the roof a couple of years after.

It's the same with anything to do with law enforcement. Once you show you are weak, the signal goes out: "Ah, they got away with it, now so can we."

Boris clearly hasn't taken the tube lately, they are full to bursting. The journey to and from work is like the Black Hole of Calcutta. An amnesty just means more misery.

Familiar Clown

Amnesty laws are usually not unconditional, and in the USA and other countries they certainly are not. Residency status could be by sponsorship of an employer, or a legally resident family member. Alternatively, a £1,000 fine could be imposed which could be 'worked off' in stages.

Augustus

Isn't JOHNSON NOT LEAVINGSOON
a great slogan?

Herbert Thornton

I'm still scratching my head over this bit -

"Their view is that if illegal immigrants have been here for a long time, then we should get them enrolled in the system so they can contribute taxes etc. Makes sense, non?"

So illegal immigrants will cheerfully accept amnesty so that they can thenceforth pay taxes? Tell me another one.

It would make far better sense to confiscate all their assets - and then deport them.

Harry

I would like to see an amnesty. We are making life very difficult for third country nationals because of the influx from E Europe. Very unfair.

Typical White Person

The USA amnesty from the 80s has been a disaster. The Mexicans (and others) feel that since the prior illegal immigrants were eventually rewarded with citizenship, that their illegal behavior in entering the country is not really illegal. It is just the first step in becoming a legal resident, entitled to all sorts of welfare goodies.

Something that people in the USA are finally figuring out is that although the people who sneak over the border are generally hardworking manual laborers, willing to do any sort of work, these people produce children who are instant citizens who grow up to be affirmative action whiners, welfare bums, and oftentimes, violent criminals. The immigrant generation has a low rate of violent crime, their children have a crime rate which is lower than the black crime rate, but much, much higher than the white rate.

Typical White Person

Herbert Thornton: You are absolutely right. When Mexicans become "legal" in the USA, they often sign up for every welfare benefit available, while still working off the books as construction workers, etc. The ones who had previously been working in factories under false social security numbers have a big incentive to go on welfare and find an off-the-books job for themselves.

I don't think that somebody who has lived in the country for five or ten years and avoided paying taxes that whole time is likely to see paying taxes as an obligation. The people who sneak across the border or overstay visas may have very difficult circumstances which drive them to do so, but politicians need to remember that these people have demonstrated that they are very comfortable with perpetrating an on-going fraud. Not the greatest citizenship material.

As a final note, many of America's illegal aliens have been very open regarding their unwillingness to allow their sons to be drafted into the American armed services UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. They want to be citizens for economic reasons, and so that they can bring all of their relatives over, but if a big crisis erupts for America, these people are going to "go home" until the crisis is over. The word "citizenship" means different things to different groups over here, and I'll bet the same is true in the U.K.

Jessica

NO AMNESTY for illegals! The 'they will start paying tax' argument is a totally bogus one as most illegals earn a low wage and if they are legalised they will then be entitled to tax credits etc which will most likely turn out to be a net LOSS not gain.

Viz

Only an insane will stand against giving hope to a large group who are currently living far worse than slaves 200 years ago.

Strange how selfish people can be!

Trevor

People are forgetting that there are decent illegals living and working besides Brits and they dont even know this. Not all illegals are bad, i am sure that they just want a normal life. If given the chance i am sure many of them would want to futher there education rather that just do what ever is available. As for paying taxes, it has its benifits too. Our borders are very tight at the moment,people dont have to worry about a sudden rush,our border contol is now very stable, its really hard to come in.Besides the goverment is offering this right to immagrants who can prove they have been staying here for x amount of time and that they have zero criminal record during there stay in the UK and there country of birth. There is nothing wrong about being human,give immagrants a chance,if they prove themselves worthy, why not. I think the country will be a much better place, as for the people complaining about immagrants who dont pay taxes, this can be controlled very easy. When they came out and claim there right to live legaly,we can monitor them where ever they are,if there is no sighn of them paying taxes we can very easily revoke there status and they back to nothing. Be human,stop complaining about trains thats to crowed,its been there for many years,the population has increased you know and i am not talking about illegal immagrants. Torist visit this country all year round as well,i am you have seen them on your trains. Personally i support this matter, i hope things move quickly and i am possitive the UK will be a more stable country for everyone. Dont forget that immagrants bring a vast amount of expertise with them as well. Come on, lets be possitive,its a new world we living in,its time for change in a possitive direction. Amnesty is a beautiful and very human thing to do. Come on Goverment! Come on!

Ann

Interesting that Viz thinks those who disagree with him are insane.

Giving hope is irrelevant when the net result is making things much worse for everybody else, including people who live here legally (yes, I do mean the citizens of this country) and whose income is pushed down, sometimes into poverty, by an influx of illegals. This island cannot support an infinite number of people. Strange that some people are incapable of doing the very simple maths involved. But then, some people haven't worked out that the tooth fairy doesn't really exist.

Rav

Hi there, interesting topic. Amnesty...
“Trains or tubes bursting to full morning and evening time”.
Are they there just because there are 5 million people living in the Uk illegally. My guess is no.

Another important thing is “ like it or not” the government cant do anything about it as they haven’t got a clue about how many people have entered here illegally. Read last year comments of watchdog and other sites for better understanding

Instead of spending more money on them and then going round and round…why can’t amnesty be granted . Lot of illegal immigrants just have been a victim of circumstances. Except a few. Now, they are illegal here, but they are supporting their families. These illegal immigrants are working day in day out to make ends meet, paying council tax etc, which i am sure must be hard for them.

Also, I am aware of this fact that this island cannot support infinite no of people, but those guys are here for the last 10-15 years. Can we actually throw them out even if they are caught? My answer is no because of n number of reasons....so why don’t just legalise them and then start a fresh and this time go through lessons learned log and implement a proper system in place.

On the other hand, I don’t have to remind you how many people from eastern European countries are coming in and working here and also using british resources. Sorry don’t mean to be rude here but There are more than half a million polish people from Europe after 2003 alone, not to mention from other EU countries. If trains are bursting, its because of this mass influx of migration. If NHS is going down its because of this extra burden. If schools are full, its because of decisions made in Brussels.

Please, have a sensible opinion, blaming half a million illegal immigrants for everything going wrong in UK. that cant be right.?

As Trevor said…they should be given a chance to live a peaceful life.

Agron

Hi my name si Agron im illegal in uk from 1998 reason i am here my country was in war so every body hate war Kosovo thank you.

pamela

i think it is a curse live to live in britain, its nothing interesting in this country,its all fake, we should throw all the brits from the third world.