Thursday 15 April 2021

Why the UK immigration system is ungrateful?

Immigration. The sensitive topic that is complicated & divisive. For me, that shouldn’t be complicated or divisive at all. Especially as the son of immigrants from Africa (my mother - South African & my father - Nigerian). 


So why the British immigration system is ungrateful? 


Well I will tell you why? 


Compare with the French immigration system. In 2018, The migrant from Mali who rescued a small child hanging from a baloney who was on the system as “illegal” had became legal by becoming a French citizen. Why? It was because of his heroic act of bravery. I am sure many of you had remembered the news story in 2018 & that he was nicked “Spider-Man”. google.co.uk He is now a firefighter in the fire service. His name is Mamoudou Gassama. en.m.wikipedia.org 


Compare with the British Immigration system. 

google.co.uk change.org theguardian.com 


In 2017, Robert Chilowa (the migrant from Zimbabwe) who saved lives of children from fire, had been told that he had “outstayed his stay” in the UK & that was “no case to answer”. It was indeed “slap in the face” for Mr Chilowa & that he was going to be deported back to Zimbabwe. Now no one knows for sure what is he up to nowadays whether he is still in the country or had indeed been deported to Zimbabwe. Who knows.


If Robert Chilowa had really been deported, then that highlights why the immigration system in the UK is ungrateful. Saving children’s lives from fire in Manchester is way “wrong” & that he cannot be allowed to live in the UK due to his heroic act of bravery. I dunno, it is really shockingly unbelievable. Hostile environment. 


Another reason why the immigration system is ungrateful in the UK is the recent scandal that happened few years ago. The Windrush scandal. 


en.m.wikipedia.org 

channel4.com

theguardian.com 

bbc.co.uk 

google.co.uk 

amnesty.org.uk 

youtu.be 

youtu.be 

bbc.co.uk 

 

The Windrush scandal. 2018 political scandal in the UK that had wrongly deported Caribbean nationals (who were part of Windrush generation & even children of the Windrush generation who are now adults). The government had really screwed up big time. Under the Home Secretaries Theresa May & Amber Rudd. Those people who had came to the UK in 1948 all the way to early 1970s (at least before 1973) to settle in the country, building their new lives, contributing to the UK economy & rebuilding the country after years of Second World War that had ended in 1945. At the time, immigrants from British colonies like Caribbean, India & Africa had came to Britain for new opportunities & rebuilding the economy of the United Kingdom. 


There were bigots, xenophobes and racists who didn’t wanted migrants from Commonwealth countries who were non white to be in the country by scapegoating them & blaming them on the ills of the society. British society & the way of life in Britain. Example: Enoch Powell’s controversial & outrageous 1968 “Rivers of Blood” speech. Enoch Powell for me in my opinion was the original “Nigel Farage”. No wonder Farage himself admired Powell for the speech that had divided opinion in the UK regarding Immigration. youtu.be youtu.be youtu.be youtu.be 

Rabble Rouser admires Rabble Rouser. That’s demagogue. 


Plus in the run up to the 2016 Brexit referendum, immigration was one of the big topic in the country. 


Nigel Farage himself said in 2014 that he doesn’t want to “live next door to Romanian migrants”. google.co.uk Now, why would any person support the bigot like Farage? Believing that he is the “man of the people”? Answer: Conservative supporting newspapers (the Sun, Daily Express, Daily Mail, Telegraph). When the media outlets who are Tory & tabloid who reports nonsense non stop about immigration & putting fingers at migrants. That’s when the likes of Farage gets to be propped up, having so much of media air time just to sprout his rubbish point of view on immigration. 


Nowadays as of the start of 2021, the United Kingdom has a points based immigration system. The policy that many politicians who are pro Brexit had always supported the ludicrous idea that will be an disadvantage for EU & non EU immigrants alike. Especially for first time ever that those who are from the EU countries (except Ireland) are treated the same as non EU migrants due to Brexit & that the UK is not an member of the European Union anymore & that the transition period had ended on 31st December 2020. The government doesn’t want any Foreign nationals taking any jobs that is low paid. They also want incoming ones to be able to speak English and at least earn 70 points to be granted entry to the country if he/she is coming to the UK to work now that is a skilled based. 


I hope and pray that there shouldn’t be a Windrush style problem for EU citizens who are living & working in the UK. google.co.uk blogs.lse.ac.uk google.co.uk google.co.uk google.co.uk amp.theguardian.com ukandeu.ac.uk Given the EU citizens have gone to registered to be on the EU settlement scheme (settled status which is currently available until 30th June this year). 

Lastly, if I was born elsewhere & I want to move to any country like the UK, I would want to live in the country where I can be treated with dignity and respect. For me, I wouldn’t choose the UK if I knew the system is cruelly ungrateful. 

Immigration will always be sensitive topic. Without migrants from parts of the world, the British economy could very well collapse. Just look up right now at this moment as Foreign workers had left London for first time since WW2 due to the effects of Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic. bloomberg.com amp.theguardian.com google.co.uk reuters.com ft.com 


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