The East London Communities Organisation (TELCO) has launched Strangers into Citizens, a campaign for regularisation of migrants living in the UK. TELCO is an alliance of 35 faith groups, schools, student organisations, union branches and charities across 5 East London boroughs. The campaign has also been endorsed by South London Citizens and is being considered for a national campaign by the CITIZENS network, under the umbrella of The Citizen Organising Foundation. Parts of this network have a track record of supporting migrants, such as London Citizens' May Day for Migrants earlier this year, which attracted 2000 people to a rally at Westminster Cathedral. South London Citizens conducted an enquiry into conditions at Lunar House, the Immigration & Nationality Directorate hellhole in Croydon.
Strangers into Citizens opens up the debate further about recognising the humanity of 'irregular migrants', but in attempting not to offend the racist anti-immigration lobby it makes many dangerous concessions. The campaign statement reproduced below suggests that regularisation would help to 'enforce a stricter immigration policy' as if this a good thing - a stricter policy can only mean more dead bodies in the back of lorries and undercarriages of planes, more detention and more deportations. The campaign also suggests that only those with good english (a straightforward racist criteria - how many English people living abroad bother to learn the local language?) and character references will be eligible. How many employers are going to give character references to migrant workers who stand up for themselves, like those in the current Justice for Cleaners campaign? What do you think? Please contribute to the debate by posting a comment.
Strangers into Citizens
Like the campaign to abolish the slave trade, which finally succeeded 200 years ago, 'Strangers into Citizens' is driven by a religious and humanist consciousness of the innate human dignity of all human beings and an indignation at the denial of that dignity.
'Strangers into Citizens' Launched on Thursday 18th November 2006 will be a year-long campaign aimed at placing the destitution and exploitation of irregular (“illegal”) migrants onto the political map by means of a public call for a new government policy that would introduce a one-off limited regularization for many thousands of people who have made new lives in the UK. These may be asylum overstayers, who for a host of reasons cannot or do not want to return to their countries; but they also include a large number of “economic migrants” who have made new lives in the UK yet are forced to live and work in a state of illegality, deprived of rights and vulnerable to exploitation.
'Strangers into Citizens' seeks to persuade government and other parties of the need for regularization, by awakening consciences in UK media and society; lobbying of government and opposition parties; building a coalition from business, agriculture, and the health sector; the mobilization of religious groups; a “citizen's report” into the reality of irregular migrants; popular assemblies and meetings; as well as through campaign literature, websites, and so on.
The campaign will be successful if (a) regularization enters public debate; (b) one or more political parties agrees to it; or if not, (c) politicians find policy alternatives that would meet popular disquiet over the plight of irregular migrants; (d) the question of the human rights of irregular migrants becomes a key moral issue in the national political conversation.
A 'Citizen's Campaign'
'Strangers into Citizens' has arisen from concerned citizens from faith communities who have befriended irregular migrants and are indignant at the precariousness of their condition, as well as irregular migrants involved in or connected with those communities.
All of those who care about this issue ask why it is permissible for a wealthy society which has benefited hugely from the influx of migrants in the past 10-15 years should condemn more than half a million people to insecurity, exploitation and a legal condition in many ways worse than that of prisoners. They question the moral legitimacy of allowing such conditions as part of a strategy of “looking tough” on immigration. They say the dignity of human beings should not be sacrificed for political ends. They say it is wrong to condemn to a precarious state of illegality those who, for very human reasons, have chosen to remain in the UK and make a new life here, and who in many cases have children in schools and make a vital contribution to the nation's economy and society.
The religious communities - churches, mosques and temples - who make up the Citizens Organising Foundation alliance are concerned, too, at the effect on the common good of allowing so many people to live beyond the law. Here are a large number of people in Britain who contribute to the flourishing of the British economy and society but who are neither accountable to the law (through the payment of taxes); nor do they enjoy the protection of the law (through employment legislation). Unable to be law-abiding through no fault of their own, they are condemned to live as outlaws. No stable, decent society can allow such a large number of people to exist beyond the reach of the law, without the law and the common good of that society suffering as a result.
'Strangers into Citizens' is a new campaign driven by a very old concern, which has become pressing in the context of globalization and the unprecedented movement of peoples across the world to which it has given rise.
Examples set by other countries
Granting legal status to 'irregular workers' is neither new nor specific to the UK. It has already happened in Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Belgium and the US. Since the 1970s, the EU states have regularized a total of 3.5 million people, mostly between 1995 and 2000. In 1986, the US gave residence permits (“green cards”) to 2.7 million people. Spain has had six regularization schemes since 1985, legalizing approximately 1.3 million irregular immigrants. On 14 November 2006 Germany announced legislation that would allow some 190,000 asylum-seekers whose cases have been unresolved for years to legally remain in the country. Netherlands: MPs voted on the 30th December 2006 to grant pardon to 26,000 long term asylum seekers
Our proposal
Regularization schemes need eligibility criteria. Different European countries have applied different criteria at different times. We propose that those who are eligible be admitted to a two-year “sponsored pathway” into full citizenship. This idea of “sponsored regularization” reflects the way in which this idea has flowed upwards from faith and other communities which have befriended irregulars and can vouch for them.
Those who would be eligible would have: five years of continuous residence in Britain; no criminal record; character references from community leaders or businesses; and proficiency in English language.
During their two-year “pathway” the migrants would be allowed to work. At the end of that period, they would present positive character and employer references, and be admitted to full citizenship.
Regularization:
o Recognizes the dignity of human beings who have made new lives in Britain;
o Extends and reinforces the rule of law;
o Makes it easier to police undesirable elements in British society;
o Helps to enforce a stricter immigration policy;
o Levels the playing-field for low-paid workers;
o Enables businesses to employ legally the skilled labour it needs;
o Brings irregular migrants out into the light, allowing them to play a full part in society;
o Ensures that tens of thousands of British workers receive the protection of the law
o Shrinks the black economy;
o Frees up billions of pounds in taxes for the Exchequer;
o Enables local authorities to plan better for the needs of its populations;
o Builds a more cohesive British society, at peace with itself;
o Turns outlaws into neighbours, and strangers into citizens - in the best traditions of British pragmatism and humanitarianism.
Campaigners say UK migrant workers should be made citizens
Support Strangers into Citizens
Can you and/or your community support the campaign, either through actively participating or through funding?
Please contact:
Dr Austen Ivereigh
Campaign Co-ordinator
'Strangers into Citizens'
Citizens Organising Foundation
112 Cavell St
London E1 2JA
Tel. 020 7375 1658
Mob. 07905 224860
Email Austen.ivereigh@cof.org.uk
Citizens Organising Foundation
Further information: