Recently there was an immigration case which made me wonder about the policies of our government. The Canadian wife of a British soldier was threatened with deportation, even though the couple were legally married and had children. Eventually the couple won their case, and quite rightly in my opinion.
Today the BBC ran a story about a Filipino man, Mr Arnel Cabrera, who had lost his fight to stay in the UK. The madness here is that the unfortunate Mr Cabrera was also legally married to a British citizen… he was married until she was killed by a hospital blunder. So he’s lost his wife, and now we’re slinging him out.
This government has time and time again shown that they can’t deal with the illegal immigration problem, so they now seem to be having a crack at a few soft targets. Meanwhile some rather unsavoury characters who preach hatred against us get to sit cosy on their state benefits. Anyone fancy explaining the logic behind this? What was Gordon Brown up to today? Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been visiting the South West of England, taking in Plymouth, Exeter and the Eden Project in Cornwall. Nothing more important to do Gordon? Perhaps he stopped off for a traditional West Country cream tea. If you’re still in the area tomorrow Gordon, why not pop along to Lyme Regis and hunt for fossils? You can give some to Mr Cabrera to put on his mantelpiece back in Manila.
Immigration policy is a problem for governments the world over. It is such a minefield for the politicians as they basically don’t have a clue what to do. As far as I can see, the only nation that has it even close to right is Australia who have a zero tolerance policy on illegal immigration, and to go legally, you have to be able to offer Oz something in return. None of this welfare state c**p.
On a visit to the UK last year, I was amazed at how much things had changed after 4 years away. And do all pubs now have eastern european barmaids ? It seemed like it to me.
The US can’t get it right either. We are here on an E2 Investor Visa which will never give us the right to stay here permanently, however, if we were Cuban and turned up on Miami beach on an inner tube, we would get automatic green cards. Go figure.
As you say, these people are soft targets. Why not go for the more difficult ones and send a message to the rest of the world that you are only welcome if you have something to offer and are not coming with your hand out.
Mrs Cabrera came to Swindon from the Philippines in 2002. Her job as a nurse at the hospital where she died, and where her husband also worked, was the reason the couple had been granted leave to stay until 2009. I was not aware she was a British citizen.
Okay, perhaps I got that wrong, perhaps she wasn’t a British citizen. And if we weren’t so kind as to offer a health service (under-funded and manned by over-worked doctors) she might be still alive.