Rishi Sunak has announced that refugees arriving into the UK by small boats will be permanently banned from re-entering the country. Ahead of Tuesday’s unveiling of the racist Illegal Migration Bill, the government told the Daily Mail:
This new Bill, if passed by Parliament, will mean that if you come here illegally, not only will you be swiftly removed from the UK, but you will never be able to come back.
The measures will ensure that anyone who has risked their lives in the Channel’s perilous waters, and has made it to England, will be deported. However, the home secretary could also send them to Rwanda, or a “”safe” third country”, as soon as possible. Refugees will also be unable to apply for British citizenship. Nor will they be able to come to the country as a visitor in the future. In summary, if someone has arrived in the UK in a small boat, their asylum claim will be inadmissible.
Refugees and people seeking asylum in the UK currently have the right to apply for protection. This is under the UN’s Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights. However, as the Mail reported:
New laws will also restrict Channel migrants from using human rights laws to avoid removal from Britain, it is understood. The Bill is likely to severely limit the way claims under Labour’s Human Rights Act can be used by asylum seekers who arrive by irregular routes.
Yes, that’s right: our government is so desperate to stop brown and Black people from living in the UK that it’s seeking to circumvent human rights laws.
Racist, ransacking Britain
The government official told the Daily Mail:
It is bad enough that illegal migrants currently abuse our asylum system to frustrate their removal. But it is far worse that they can currently settle here permanently and apply to become a citizen. The ability to settle in this country and become a British citizen is not a human right, it is a privilege – which is why we will ban illegal migrants from ever coming back to the UK after we have removed them.
Of course, the government doesn’t actually say how refugees are abusing the system to “frustrate their removal”. Rather, it assumes that the public will swallow these baseless racist statements without questioning them. And it’s probably a fair assumption, judging from the recent uptick in far-right activity against refugees.
The deluded Tories still cling to the idea of Britain as a world-dominating empire. To them, it is the greatest of countries: a place where brown or Black people should be “privileged” to be granted space. Meanwhile, just like in the time of the Empire, the government believes it’s Britain’s given right to continue to ransack other countries.
Let’s not forget that it is this country which was instrumental in wrecking Afghanistan. It is our government – albeit under Labour’s Tony Blair – that lied about Iraq’s non-existent weapons of mass destruction in order to begin an illegal war. And it is this country that has bombed Syria, as well as causing carnage in Libya. Meanwhile, our arms companies – which have links to government officials – are laughing, cashing in on the billions made in profits from never-ending war. Britain’s role has been essential for destablising the Middle East and northern Africa. Yet our government washes its hands of any responsibility. Worse than this, it treats the very people whose lives it has ravaged as sub-human.
Scapegoating refugees
It is a time-tested method for governments to find scapegoats to blame for their own terrible messes. The government hopes that if it blames ‘outsiders’, this will distract people from the real facts. As Sunak harps on about “illegal migration” not being “fair on British taxpayers”, he hopes we won’t notice that it’s his government that is to blame for soaring inflation, the cost of living crisis, and a failing NHS. Meanwhile, energy giants such as Shell reap billions in profits while we literally die in our homes.
As for Sunak, he’s one of the richest people in the whole country. He’s likely the wealthiest person ever to have graced the halls of Number 10. He features on the Sunday Times Rich List with a net worth of £730 million. The Sunaks’ main home (yes, they have three) in Kensington is worth £7 million alone. With their obscene wealth, they look down on those who want a life without war and poverty.
It’s likely that if Sunak found himself aboard a packed dinghy on a choppy English Channel, he wouldn’t last five minutes. And if he fell overboard, I’m not too sure I would save him.
Featured image via YouTube/screenshot
