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The border agency has been out in force this week after starting a campaign to target dark-skinned people in London.

Non-white people in London have been subject to random stop and searches and required to produce their identity for the Border agency.

Despite the fact that stop and searches were ruled illegal by the European Court of Human Rights in 2010, the border agency have been witnessed stopping and searching people with dark or olive skin.

It also disregards the fact that there is no law requiring any citizen to carry their documents around with them.

Phil O’Shea, who witnessed one of the operations earlier this week in north London, told the Kilburn Times: “I thought the behaviour of the immigration officers was heavy-handed and frightening.

“They appeared to be stopping and questioning every non-white person, many of whom were clearly ordinary Kensal Green residents going to work.

“When I queried what was going on I was threatened with arrest for obstruction and was told to ‘crack on’.”

Another onlooker told Sky News: “I think that when we are targeted like this – whatever you look like – I think it is absolutely terrible, and I think you are basing that on prejudice.”

The agency have reported making a number of arrests which have caught some illegal immigrants – while others who were arrested were clearly not. So, this gives rise to the question: on what basis do they determine whether someone is an illegal citizen?

Whilst unchecked immigration is a problem in this country, the real underlying issue is this: what causes people to be desperate enough to flee their country in the first place? Could it be the illegal wars that are being waged on middle Eastern and African countries? Could the fact that corporations are extracting precious minerals and resources such as oil from these countries, causing war and mayhem in the process, be causing people to flee to countries such as this one? And could it be because our border control is so ineffective that people are able to make their way into this country in the first place?

If the government was serious about clamping down on immigration, it would not be participating in the very evils of globalisation that cause people to flee to this country in the first place.

Many people in the UK, particularly those who follow right wing newspapers such as the Telegraph and the Mail believe that Britain is “overrun” with immigrants and that we are the country or one of the countries that take the highest number of immigrants and refugees.

Nothing could be further than the truth. Actually official figures show that the country with the highest number of immigrants is the United States, with 38,355,000 immigrants. Not surprising really – because everybody in the States – apart from those of native american origin – is either descended from immigrants or is a recent immigrant. That is in fact, how the United States was formed – from waves of immigration, decade after decade.

The second highest is Russia, then Germany, followed by the Ukraine, France and Saudi Arabia. The UK lags behind the other countries and has the ninth highest immigrant population in the world, with 5,408,000 immigrants approximately, falling just behind India, which has more 5,700,000.

In terms of refugees and asylum seekers, Pakistan has the highest number of refugees, with 62 per cent of asylum seekers fleeing there, according to figures by UNHCR, while Iran had the second highest number of refugees and took in a whopping 34 per cent of the worlds asylum seekers.

Surprising? Not really. Because according to the UN report: “by the end of 2010, three quarters of the world’s refugees were residing in a country neighbouring their own.” The vast majority of refugees came from Afghanistan, so therefore it stands to reason that they would flee to a country which has a similar culture to their own, or a country which was nearby, such as Pakistan, for example.

So the idea that all of the immigrants and asylum seekers are fleeing to the UK because of our benefits system, is quite simply a false one.

This of course, does not mean that there are no problems associated with immigration in the UK. Nor does it mean that there is hardly any noticeable change in the UK culture because of immigration. It simply means that our governments are too incompetent, warmongering and corrupt to do anything about it. And therein lies the problem. Perhaps it is the government, and not the immigrants that we need to keep in check.

Below we have included some guidelines about what to do if you are stopped by the UKBA. These come directly from Chapter 31 of the UKBA Operational Enforcement Manual.

– Immigration checks CANNOT be speculative. They must have a reason for suspecting that you are an illegal immigrant. And it cannot be based upon colour.

I include here a guideline taken DIRECTLY from the UKBA Operational Enforcement Manual:

“An IO (Immigration officer) must not engage a person on the basis of their appearance, race, colour, ethnic origin or  nationality. To do so would amount to unlawful discrimination under the Equality Act 2010.”
-Those who are stopped do not have to answer questions or show identification.
-If you are stopped – you CAN walk away.
-UKBA officers MUST by LAW have identification themselves – and show a warrant card, with their name and badge number on display
-They must advise the person that they are not obliged to answer any questions (although it is unlikely they will. If they do not, they are acting illegally).
-They must advise the person that they are not under arrest and are free to leave.
-You do not have to allow them to search you, unless reasonably suspected of a crime. Stop and search was ruled illegal in 2010 remember.

If you see someone else being stopped:

– Immediately make the person aware that they do not have to answer questions and that they can leave
– Remind the officers of the law
– Film the incident where possible, asking the person stopped if that’s ok, or just filming the officers involved. This may be useful in making a claim in the event of an unlawful stop or arrest.
– Record the lapel numbers of the officers involved
– Make other members of the public aware of what’s happening
– Get witnesses’ contact details if the stop leads to an arrest or the person wants to pursue it afterwards
– Attempt to pass on a phone number to the individual if you think the stop will lead to arrest
– Try not to get aggressive or physically obstruct officers if you want to avoid being arrested for obstruction.
If you want to be more prepared in advance for such a scenario, have a camera ready in your bag and your number already written on a card to give to the person.

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