Immigration Bill a missed opportunity to tackle appalling detention system
A bill to tackle illegal immigration has cleared its first parliamentary hurdle, despite opposition from Labour, Lib Dem and SNP MPs. MPs voted to give the Immigration Bill a second reading by a margin of 49, after Labour’s bid to block it was rejected by 40 votes.
The plans have already met with strong criticism from Bradford MP Imran Hussain.
Speaking during the debate on the Immigration Bill, Bradford East MP, Imran Hussain, decried the Government for failing to introduce measures to tackle the abuse of immigration detention and for promoting discrimination.
The Government’s record on immigration detention was particularly criticised by Mr Hussain who highlighted their ‘unashamed use’ of a power which was originally introduced as a specific mechanism to enforce a removal or examination of illegal migrants, but has since evolved into a free standing immigration power used at will by the Home Office.
Condemnation has also been levelled at immigration detention by organisations such as Liberty who have declared that it is now a system of administrative convenience used by the Home Office, and serious concerns have been repeatedly raised both inside and outside Parliament that the lack of time limits on detention has significant mental health consequences for detainees.
Measures creating new offences for landlords who rent to illegal migrants, even when they did not know they were illegal migrants, were also criticised by Mr Hussain who declared that they would increase discrimination towards those from a BME background by landlords fearing the possibility of prosecution, citing evidence in a report by the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) which shows 42 per cent of landlords would be wary of renting to someone without a British passport.
Speaking on the debate, Bradford East’s Member of Parliament, Imran Hussain said, “Immigration detention has moved from an option of last resort by the Home Office to one of administrative convenience, where even victims of torture and sexual violence are placed in appalling prison like conditions for unknown lengths of time.
“The Bill presented an ideal opportunity for the Government to address this system and the appalling stain on the UK’s human rights record that it creates, so I am extremely disappointed that it includes no such measures, and I will be urging the Government during the passage of the Bill to impose time limits on detention to bring the UK into line with the rest of Europe.
“Furthermore, the Bill creates offences which during a pilot scheme in the West Midlands were shown to encourage discrimination towards those from a BME background by landlords.
“Ethnic minorities already make up some of the most persecuted groups in our society and they do not need further harassment, and I hope that the Government will remove these offences from the Bill.”
Home Secretary Theresa May however told MPs the measures embodied in the bill would mean “greater fairness to British citizens and legitimate migrants”.
Its objective, she said, was to protect those who “play by the rules”.
