Controversial procedures will require the UK to accept an eighth of all migrants who come to any of the 27 European Union countries to claim refuge. For Britain this means an estimated 22,500 more people. Taxpayers will be expected to foot the bill for their food, homes and living expenses, plus legal fees while they apply for international protection.

Asylum seekers must also be given the right to work within six months of their arrival, enabling them to claim thousands of pounds in benefits if they cannot find a job. Their children must also be found school places.

The proposals, supported by Labour MEPs, are part of the EU’s Common European Asylum System and will be put to the European Parliament in Strasbourg for approval.

Conservative MEP Philip Bradbourn said: “Economic migrants posing as asylum seekers would have an easy ride under these plans. Once again, the EU thinks the only answer to justified immigration concerns is to take control of asylum policy. Controlling our borders is one of the most important roles of government. For more than a decade, Labour has been unable to form a coherent immigration policy, but that should not justify handing it to Brussels.”

Member states would be compelled to accept a percentage of applicants in accordance with their population.

This would mean the UK taking in 13 per cent of all refugees arriving in the EU – or 22,500 of the 322,000 average arrivals over the last 10 years.

A Home Office spokeswoman said last night: “The UK operates a firm but fair asylum system that is delivering faster decisions to help those who need our protection.”

Everyone knows why migrants flock to the UK, but the government are not exactly putting a stop to this by giving benefits to asylum seekers. The problem of economic migrants coming to take advantage of UK benefits will not go away until the reason they come is removed. Britain is the preferred destination for most asylum seekers and this EU Directive will guarantee they will be able to come here passing in most cases, 26 other EU safe refuge. Is this a call for British Independence? Have the indigenous people of this country been consulted? Is it even possible with such divided opinions and political parties? Is it time the British started protesting like the French do? – They always get what they want!

For more information click here.

Mrs K*, 44, a social worker in the Haringey council revealed to me the emotional side to dealing with asylum seekers as a part of her job – the realities and the controversies that involve vulnerable unaccompanied human beings desperately in search for peace.

FiFi: Tell me a little about your role as a social worker in Haringey.

Mrs K: Well in my department, we receive referrals from the Home Office of people that want to claim asylum. As social workers we assess the asylum seekers and find out if they have any relatives in the country. Bearing in mind they are new to the country, we gather as much information about each asylum seeker as we possibly can, so that we can pass on the information that decides their fate. Asylum seekers are provided with accommodation until then.

FiFi: Why do most of them choose to claim as a minor?

Mrs K: Anyone between the ages of 0 – 18 years is classed as a minor. In assessment many are older than they claim to be but it’s simple things like eye contact and confidence that give away the game. It is obvious that they come from different cultures and backgrounds so have different norms of behaving and conducting themselves but the possibility that they may be of age despite saying otherwise is never ruled out. If we conclude they are minors they are dealt with under the children act (1989) which is more lenient. In adult cases we refer them to National Asylum Support Service (NASS) – another body of the home office – they work hand in hand. And also, many of these asylum seekers don’t speak English. They may feel that by being young in their papers, if granted, they will have the opportunity to go to school and study at a less complicated level. This has a lot to with language barriers as well. We get a lot of asylum seekers that falsely claim to be minors but the Home office have been trained to detect the fake from the genuine. Some of them choose to confide in me personally; perhaps of my own African heritage, this is one of the hardest parts of my job.

FF: Do you ever have problems with language barriers when dealing with asylum seekers?

MK: Yes of course because we get people coming from all over the world. We call an interpreter or sometimes get language line to help us which is a translator that operates via telephone. Sometimes they pretend to not be able to speak or understand English very well in fear that they will say the ‘wrong’ thing. They tend not to tell us the truth as they think we have the power to deport them.

FF: What do you see as the main reasons for so many asylum seekers settling in the UK?

MK: Asylum seekers flee their home land for protection. What I’ve noticed is that in political and humanitarian reasons, asylum seekers are allowed to stay in the UK. The state can be very understanding. England is seen as an El Dorado. This country is so big on human rights and freedom. There are cultures elsewhere that perform acts which are against human rights. For instance forced arranged marriages or female genital mutilation. Coming from a third world country people also come here for employment and fleeing the warzones. It’s a way to live in peace in terms of human rights which don’t really exist in less developed countries.

FF: What happens if they are refused entry?

MK: If they get refused entry, they are put under section 4 of Immigration and Asylum Act (1999). In this short period of time they are allowed to provide more evidence to support their case and reasons to stay otherwise they are liable to get deported.

FF: Do you get more people from one particular side of the globe?

MK: It depends what going on the world but there was a time when we had a lot of Kosovons. Now we get a lot of Iranians and Africans.

FF: I know you came to this country yourself 2 decades ago. What would you say are the most difficult things to deal with as someone new to a country looking for a better life?

MK: Isolation is a problem. As an asylum seeker you lose your culture and are forced to live under a new government structure. Integration is difficult but they are in search for freedom. Similarly, illegal immigration is a cry for help. It’s not easy to start all over again; leaving friends and family behind back home just to get this so called “better life”.

FF: Do you ever have to get mental help for your clients especially those coming from war zones?

MK: Many experience traumas; they need to be listened to. Some witness murders and rapes so they need emotional support. We refer the, to councillors and advocates. I’ve had many cases that have touched me emotionally. And to think that they come into this country to not be accepted or racially abused and ordered to “go back their own country” really hurts me.

FF: On the other hand do you really think the UK can cope with what the right wing man might call ‘extra luggage’?

MK: I understand that if the policies are not tight then the UK will have less and less jobs and housing because they are letting in so many refugees and asylum seekers but the government have a choice. If they knew they wouldn’t be able to cope then the laws should be adjusted. At least then the asylum seekers would not have to suffer racism here. People that are complaining should be looking at helping these asylum seekers where they are. For instance by creating more jobs overseas so they are stable.

FF: What do you think are the consequences of not helping asylum seekers and refugees in the UK?

MK: We need to educate young asylum seekers or else they will become the next gang members. By allowing them to get schooling here, they will be valuable to society as a whole. The French President and Obama were immigrants at first but now are leading figures and great role models for people of all races.

Mrs K has chosen to remain anonymous due to the confidential requirements of her occupation. 

The Congo (Democratic Republic)

Average life expectancy for men: 45
Average life expectancy for women: 48
Average number of children per mother: 6.7
Maternal deaths per 100,000 live births: 1,100
Infant deaths per 1,000 births: 205
Adults HIV/Aids rate: 3.2%
Doctors per 1,000 head of population: 0.1
Adult literacy rate: 67.2%
Density: 71.5 people per square mile

He denied the assault and police did not prosecute him. At this time, Abo was living in his mother’s home illegally in Bracknell, Berks but after the incident moved back to Kenya.

Last week he had a visa application to return to Britain rejected. Home office staff said: “Allowing him back into the country would not be conductive to the public good.”

Immigration officers have discovered that at the time of his arrest Abo had been living illegally with mother Kezia in Braknell for the past seven years. He claimed to the poluce that he was a bin man called Henry Aloo – but had given them Kezia’s address.

Abo applied for a family UK visa to visit mother Kezia, 67. He had to provide fingerprint as part of the application which matched him up to the man accused of the assault. Days later Abo asked for his passport back to get a visa to attend his brother’s inauguration at the White House. But on his second application in February he was confronted with the allegations at the UK Borders Agency office in Nairobi.

He claimed that his passport had been stolen. According to Kenyan authories, Abo’s documents which aimed to deny that he had been an illegal immigrant in the UK from 2001 to 2008 were forged.

A UK Border Agency source said: “Nobody could believe that such a close member to the US president could give another man’s identity to avoid being detected as an illegal immigrant.”

Story taken from the Daily Mirror. Read the full story here.

Conservative: Enoch Powell

The central issue the speech aimed to tackle was not immigration but rather the introduction by the Labour Government of the Race Relations Act 1968, which Powell found absurd. The Act would disallow racial discrimination in certain areas of British life, particularly housing, where many local authorities refused to provide houses for immigrant families until they had lived in the country for a certain number of years.

Last year, award winning journalist, Rageh Omarr of Channel 4’s Dispatches documentary programme examined how immigration has affected Britain over the years. Rageh explored whether the visions of 40 years ago have any basis in the present reality.

Omaar concluded that resentment against immigrants are voiced by a much larger population. Political response has followed this broader and more widespread concern. Britain is more open about immigration than it was prepared to be in Powell’s day.

Is immigration today the cause of gang fights, social fragmentation, racism, Islamophobia, loss of the British identity, economic crisis, mass unemployment?

Is immigration not the cause of cultural exchange, world knowledge, promotion of global prosperity, opportunity, diversity, modernity?

Watch the extract of the 3 part documentary below.

* I love this picture because it captures and displays the perfect art of power and innocence. *

I found this episode not only funny in the way that Peter’s character suddenly goes from ‘over-proud’ American to one of the many victims of society. But also the final message behind it was interesting because it gave both right wing and left wing views throughout the episode. It presented a demonstration of how (although due to a bias cause in Peter’s case) one can change his or her mind and can accept a particular group of society. Watch a part of the episode now.

Watch the full episode HERE.

Homeless: David Oluwale

Sunday 4^th May 1969 – the day the battered body of a homeless and helpless black man in search of a better life was found and dragged from the River Aire in Leeds. David Oluwale, 38 when he died, was in fact a Nigerian immigrant who had been the victim of horrific, institutional, brutality by two serving members of the police force.

The pair were found guilty of manslaughter and had been proven to have constantly tormented Oluwale, an inside Scotland Yard police investigation unveiled.
Abused and isolated from mainstream society, the desperate immigrant arrived to work on the docks but ended up on the streets in a continuing battle to survive oppression and suffering. Arriving to England aged 19, Oluwale, spent half of his time in backward thinking mental centres.

Based on Kester Aspden’s award winning book The Hounding of David Oluwale, Oladipo Agboluaje brings David Oluwale back to Leeds to tell a story of one man searching for justice and another who just wanted to find home.

In an interview with the Metro newspaper, Aspden said: “I became fascinated by how someone becomes so excluded from mainstream society that he’s seen as an animal”.

It’s not an innovative statement that Britain was an openly racist nation 40 years ago but the poignant truth is that treatment of ethnic minorities by the police is still seen by a large proportion as unacceptable.

Hackney Empire this week stage not only the story of a man tormented to death by two racist policemen but the story of a man who came to England full of faith in the hope of making a improved living. He was let down by every ‘helping’ institution under the government; from asylum aid to the courts.

Acting the dead man’s character is actor Daniel Francis who stars in hit theatre drama The Brothers Size. David Oluwale’s staged resurrection enables us – people of all races – to get a SMALL idea of what it feels like to be denied a “proper” chance in life. Something that still happens four decades on.

Here is what the INDEPENDENT said about the play:

“Kester Aspden’s account is a timely one, reminding us of the profoundly sad connections between past and present”

Tonight until Sat, Hackney Empire, 7.30pm, Thu mat 1.30pm, Sat mat 2.30pm, £12.50 – £16.50

Tel: 02089852424

www.hackneyempire.co.uk