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Kunjufu
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Posted: Monday August 9th, 2004 16:09 |
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Passport control on Tube
By Luke David, Evening Standard
9 August 2004
Immigration officers are questioning Tube travellers because they sound "foreign", the Evening Standard has learned.
Thousands of passengers are being stopped in a secret operation using tactics the police are specifically forbidden from deploying. Immigration officers are stopping anyone they consider to look or sound foreign and asking them to produce their papers to prove their right to British residence.
Their aim is uncover illegal immigrants and failed asylum seekers. The discovery that these tactics are being used prompted a political row today. The Liberal Democrats are set to write to the Home Secretary demanding an explanation for a scheme civilrights groups dubbed "Stalinist".
 The existence of the spot-check operation has been kept secret by the
Home Office but an Evening Standard investigation discovered that teams of immigration officers have been carrying out the procedures since May 2003.
It is part of a wider programme in which 1,000 suspected illegal immigrants have been detained.
During one operation witnessed by the Evening Standard, a series of people getting off Tube trains were stopped by immigration officers dressed in body armour and carrying handcuffs. The officer in charge said people were picked out for questioning if they sounded foreign.
One immigration officer said: "If you hear someone speaking a language that's not European we approach them and ask 'do you mind if I ask you what nationality you are?' "If they get upset or start acting suspiciously we ask the police to assist and demand identification."
Onlookers said they were shocked when they saw the operation at Harrow-on-the-Hill station shortly before the evening rush hour. Ellen Cook, 23, an admin assistant, said: "They are assuming if people look different they should be harassed. It's despicable."
Today the Home Office faced a barrage of criticism over the tactics. Police are specifically forbidden by Home Office guidelines from stopping people because of their accent or appearance.
A junior Home Office minister promised an investigation when official figures showed a massive jump in the number of Muslims stopped by police under anti-terrorist laws.
Mr Blunkett now faces demands for an explanation of his secret initiative.
Mark Oaten, home affairs spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, told the Evening Standard he was writing to Mr Blunkett to demand answers. "This is a step too far," he said. "The Home Secretary should urgently review powers that allow immigration officers to indiscriminately stop people in this way."
Barry Hugill, of the civil rights group Liberty, said: "Stopping people and checking their papers is what we used to associate with the old communist states.
"It's real stab-in-the-dark stuff. It is not intelligence-led, it's 'lets see what we can get today'."
Keith Best, chief executive of the Immigration Advisory Service, said: "It is a time-consuming and costly way of ending up with just a few people arrested by circumstance.
"It's a rather random blunderbuss approach that offends many ordinary decent citizens, some of whom will be third or fourth generation British."
The Home Office said it had no figures for how many illegal immigrants had been caught in the sweeps of Tube stations. British Transport police officers are taken away from regular patrol duties to back up the immigration officers.
Today the Home Office defended the policy.
A spokesman said: "The Government has made it clear it will take a robust stance against those who abuse UK laws. "We will prosecute and will seek to remove those who have no legal basis of stay in the UK."
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Kunjufu
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Posted: Monday August 9th, 2004 16:28 |
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What is very concerning is that tonight we are going to get a sidebar of absolute bullsh*t of Somalians V west Indians, Indians V P*kistanies etc etc.. Yet the real issue goes unchallenged.. That is a Labour goverment that I should remind people includes members of Blacks & asians in their ranks.. Is sanctioning Aparthied style tactics on the streets of this capital.. Yet all people find to talk about is pure fart..
Where is Abbott, Boteng, Lammy etc etc are they ok with this? Isn't it enough that we have the police using stop and search and the soon to be introduction of ID cards..now we have the rahtid customs checking nationality on the friggin tube..
So If i drive I have to run the gauntlet of DVLA, police and any other tom dick and harriet stopping me for various reasons at random... If i take public transport I'm frequently asked to produce my travel pass, then when I get off i have run the gauntlet again just to get out of the station..At Elephant & Castle/Catford BR this is almost a daily occurance..
I just waiting for them to start checking the friggin sick and inform in the Hospital wards for their ID and papers.. Did the Gestapo ever become this intense i wonder?
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free
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Posted: Monday August 9th, 2004 16:38 |
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Kunjufu, they are also using the same tactics on the buses in the early mornings as they ASSume that a number of night cleaners are illegal immigrants...
...a friend of my mother's was on her way to work one morning when 3 police officers, and some other officials got on the bus and started questioning people...
Bad, Bad, Bad
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The Watcher
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Posted: Monday August 9th, 2004 16:42 |
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Wonder if Dutch and French tourist qualify as 'foreign' and if Italians have an accent??
Maybe they will trouble those who look foreign like Japanese tourist with ten cameras or white Americans with big foldout maps??
Somehow I dont think so........................
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Kunjufu
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Posted: Monday August 9th, 2004 16:47 |
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free wrote: Kunjufu, they are also using the same tactics on the buses in the early mornings as they ASSume that a number of night cleaners are illegal immigrants...
...a friend of my mother's was on her way to work one morning when 3 police officers, and some other officials got on the bus and started questioning people...
Bad, Bad, Bad
Whaaat..yu lie, now this aint even funny no more, i used to do that shift myself once upon a time..
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COLTRANE
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Posted: Monday August 9th, 2004 17:08 |
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I think we need to take an emergency measures and get some answers from our local MP'S
do we need to go to work with our passports or what?
I this 1983 USSR or 2004 Britain?
does anyone know the number to call dianne abbott or Dave Lammy?
we need to do something now and what does Civil liberty groups say about this?
damn!
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JONHNCROW234
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Posted: Monday August 9th, 2004 17:11 |
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| this is a serious and intimidating ploy people must pull the plug on what is going to become of a polyglot person??
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LadyDay
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Posted: Monday August 9th, 2004 19:38 |
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shocking. but it is common in england for the pigs to pick on people they dont wish to be here. in derby. east midlands there was a raid on a favourite pub for black people esp the west indian community. it got raided one day under the premise that it was a drugs bust. but it turned out to be an immigration sweep. no drugs were found and only 2 or 3 illegals were found. they had to let go of so many people shame.
you here about stuff like this in the midlands all the time
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COLTRANE
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Posted: Tuesday August 10th, 2004 01:02 |
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Ive been hooked on news but I havent heard anything about it maybe its a top secret operation just like the gestapos used.
seems Immigration department guys are bored since not many people claim asylum and they just invented this operation at my tax money instead of intalling more cameras in my area or more for my neighrhood school and now they are looking for pple who dont look like them,or speak like them and so on...
does anyone wonder why they cant even catch Bin laden? I know why
MI6 in theor website they call him BIN LADEN while Scotland yard and MI5 call him BIN LADIN!
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COLTRANE
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Posted: Tuesday August 10th, 2004 04:11 |
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FOUND IT IN TODAYS GUARDIAN:
Foreign-sounding passengers stopped on tube
Tania Branigan
Tuesday August 10, 2004
The Guardian
The mayor of London has accused immigration officials of harassing black people after it emerged that they were questioning tube passengers speaking non-European languages.
Civil liberties groups, immigration campaigners and the Liberal Democrats yesterday attacked the practice, describing it as potentially racist. They also suggested it would damage the capital's tourist industry.
Home Office guidelines explicitly prevent police from stopping people because of their accent or appearance. Last month the government promised a new stop-and-search action team to combat discrimination after figures showed that police are still disproportionately targeting black and Asian communities.
But the Home Office yesterday defended the attempt to clamp down on illegal immigration and described it as an "intelligence-led" and "targeted" operation which had proved successful.
The practice is part of a wider programme launched in May last year which has so far detained 1,000 suspected illegal immigrants.
Immigration officials have questioned London Underground passengers who have been stopped by staff or British Transport police because they do not have the correct tickets. But it now emerges that officials are also taking the initiative by stopping people who they believe sound foreign, and asking them to produce papers proving their right to British residence.
"If you hear someone speaking a language that's not European we approach them and ask, 'Do you mind if I ask you what nationality you are?'" an officer told the Evening Standard. "If they get upset or start acting suspiciously we ask the police to assist and demand identification."
The mayor, Ken Livingstone, said yesterday: "This looks like harassment of black people by the immigration service and I would like to see it completely stopped. The transport police are there to stop criminal and antisocial behaviour, not cooperate in harassment of black and Asian people by the immigration service."
Mark Oaten, the home affairs spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, has written to David Blunkett, the home secretary, to demand that he review the practice.
"We categorically refute any allegations of racist behaviour by immigration service staff," a Home Office spokesman said. "Trained and experienced officers inevitably apply their judgment in these situations, taking into account a range of factors.
"The alternative is to make officers disregard their experience, existing intelligence and waste a huge amount of time." He added: "It is not anywhere near as simplistic as people catching the tube and just stopping people on the basis of how they sound or their appearance.
"Police are targeting particular areas at particular times based on their own intelligence and analysis of crime patterns, and immigration officers are working with them. The British Transport police are in the lead on this."
But asked whether officials were stopping passengers on the basis of the language they were speaking, he said: "Immigration officers will approach people directly if they're displaying certain types of behaviour which they believe indicate that they warrant attention in this context."
Barry Hugill, a spokesman for the civil rights group Liberty, said the practice was shocking and could even be seen as stalinist. Pointing out that a high proportion of immigration offenders are native English speakers from countries such as Australia, South Africa and New Zealand who have overstayed their visas, he added: "There are clear racist implications ... It is guaranteed to create resentment.
"I would be very interested to know what the reaction of the London Tourist Board would be. Think of the film clips that could go out around the world showing how London welcomes visitors."
Keith Best, the chief executive of the Immigration Advisory Service, said the approach was "going to enrage large numbers of ordinary citizens stopped without any justification whatsoever".
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Bredder Tukoma
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Posted: Tuesday August 10th, 2004 04:55 |
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Serious business. It doesnt get more blatant than this.
They are alraedy stopping people(in heavily populated Blak areas) for supposed drugs. I got stopped the other day by sniffer dogs at the tube station and was searched for drugs. Incidentally there were three other Black men with me in the room they used to search us. I nearly got arrested myself due to the level of abuse I gave them.
And now this. Must remember to put on my Jamaican accent when they stop me again. I could do with some compensation money for false imprisonment.
If this witchunt doesnt rally people then nothing will.
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moneytalks
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Posted: Tuesday August 10th, 2004 06:08 |
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Man, does it really matter? you peeps seem to forget you are in Europe..in another mans land, they have the right to do what ever they want. If you don't like it get out.
Lets be honest if people are really pissed they wouldn't live here. But if you really must complain call OBV.
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COLTRANE
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Posted: Tuesday August 10th, 2004 06:11 |
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| I wonder where the lawyers are..so we can sue if they dont find anything on you
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Posted: Tuesday August 10th, 2004 07:06 |
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| @Kunjufu...I was meant to post yesterday but got caught up in other matters...but trust me no lie, they are doing the same thing on the buses aswell...So, if they catch you - you got problems...and apparently 5-0 have caught a significant amount of people this way!
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Posted: Saturday August 14th, 2004 18:39 |
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how you mean chatbout mansa
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