Benefits 'block' for illegal immigrants
Reid wants to stop services being 'exploited'
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Wednesday, 07, Mar 2007 08:37
Home secretary John Reid has announced new plans to 'block' benefits and services to illegal immigrants in the UK.
The proposals, part of a cross-government enforcement strategy, include plans to establish immigration crime partnerships between the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) and other bodies such as the police, local authorities and the Treasury, in order to detect those residing in the UK illegally and to prevent them from receiving state benefits.
A 'watch list' of illegal immigrants will also be drawn up for circulation between state departments and agencies in order to deny them access to various services, while three NHS trusts will pilot a new scheme to determine how official immigration data can ensure that overseas visitors who are not entitled to free healthcare in the UK pay for any treatment they receive.
The Home Office stressed that the strategy was based on "fairness", but campaigners claim that the plans are inhumane and could leave illegal immigrants "destitute".
Other proposals put forward by the home secretary to tackle illegal immigration include plans to text reminders to foreign visitors to ensure that they do not overstay their visas, with a three-month pilot of the scheme to begin next month.
Announcing the plans, Mr Reid insisted that Britain had a "proud record" of integrating immigrants from around the world, but stressed that measures such as the introduction of biometric ID cards for foreign nationals would help prevent the immigration system being exploited.
"Most people who come to this country wish to comply fully with our immigration laws, but where they don't we are committed to blocking the benefits and privileges that should only be enjoyed by those here legitimately," said the home secretary.
"Introducing biometric ID cards, starting with newly-arrived foreign nationals, will make it easier to ensure fair access to services and stamp out fraud and abuse," he added.
The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) welcomed the new enforcement strategy as "a really positive step forward", but the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants said that barring access to rights and services from up to half a million illegal immigrants was "not a realistic or humane response".
"Rendering them destitute will not encourage or enable them to return to countries riven by human rights abuses, conflict and poverty," said the group's chief executive Habib Rahman.
"It will force many onto the doorsteps of already stressed charities and churches, or into the arms of criminals facilitating forced labour," he added.
The Conservatives also accused the government of making a "pathetic attempt" to grab headlines.
"John Reid is effectively giving up on trying to deport the hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants in this country," said shadow home secretary David Davis.
Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Nick Clegg said: "If tough rhetoric and gimmicks were enough to sort out our immigration system, we would have the best in the world."