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| Europe |
| Labor Party Decides to Stop Dismissing Complaints About Immigration Abuses as Mere Racism |
| 2004-04-28 |
| Tony Blair admitted yesterday the Government had got it WRONG over immigration. The Prime Minister acknowledged for the first time it had been a mistake to brush off warnings that the system is being abused. His spectacular U-turn also included a pledge for a âtop to bottomâ crackdown on scroungers from abroad. Mr Blair even admitted he should not have branded critics racist for objecting to Labourâs seven years of immigration policy failure. He said the issue had reached âcrunch pointâ â days before millions of East Europeans become eligible to live here. The PM told a CBI conference on migration: âWe will neither be fortress Britain, nor will we be an open house. âWhere necessary, we will tighten the immigration system. Where there are abuses, we will deal with them, so that public support for the controlled migration that benefits Britain is maintained. ... We cannot simply dismiss any concern about immigration as racism. In part, what has put immigration back up the agenda â with public concern at its highest since the 1970s â is that there are real, not imagined, abuses of the system that lead to a sense of unfairness.â The PM even referred to cases such as hate-filled Muslim cleric Abu Hamza. He said: âThere are high profile examples of the absurd, like radical clerics coming here to preach religious hate, people staying here to peddle support for terrorism. ... The combination of all these things ... led to a crunch point. That is where we are now. These are real concerns. They are not figments of racist imagination. The vast bulk of the British people are not racist. It is in their nature to be moderate. But they expect government to respond to their worries. They can accept migration that is controlled and selective. They accept and welcome migrants who play by the rules. But they will not accept abuse or absurdity. Why should they? "That is why we have begun a top-to-bottom analysis of the immigration system â how it operates, how it can be improved, how it can agree migration where it is in our countryâs interests and prevent it where it isnât. One thing already is clear â the overwhelming majority migrate in and often out of Britain fairly but there are areas of abuse and we can and should deal with them." |
| Posted by:Mike Sylwester |
| #8 I'm in San Diego as well, and I don't think anyone really looks at the other side of the illegal immigration issue. Basically the migrant workers and illegals act as a safety valve for Mexico, allowing them to avoid political change for decades. Mexico, with a hard working population, tons of mineral wealth, and a border with the US could easily have clawed their way up to the first world if they'd had decent governmet. The safety valve prevented that from happening. Bleeding heart pro-illegal immigration types have doomed millions and millions of Mexican citizens to poverty over the decades because of their misplaced priorites. |
| Posted by: ruprecht 2004-04-28 5:00:02 PM |
| #7 Touche, Mr C. |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-04-28 1:06:55 PM |
| #6 But as bad as that is, as I said above, an impoverished Latino will not be toteing a canister of Ricin to the LA City Hall! Maybe not, but a Latino convert to Islam might. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-04-28 12:58:53 PM |
| #5 The Moorish assassins must be driven back to the borders of the foul desert wastes from which they came! |
| Posted by: Hammer of the Moors 2004-04-28 12:55:20 PM |
| #4 SouthCentral Az.on top of what FG and BE,said the flood of illegals seriously depress wages, especially in the construction industries. |
| Posted by: raptor 2004-04-28 12:31:53 PM |
| #3 Frank G- I'm in the LA Area, 100 mi north of you, and we have the same problem. For example : there are constant problems with the funding of the university hospitals (USC, UCLA) because of the high %age of illegals who are admitted. But as bad as that is, as I said above, an impoverished Latino will not be toteing a canister of Ricin to the LA City Hall! |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-04-28 12:08:20 PM |
| #2 from San Diego, BigEd, I'd say we Anglos have real concerns on illegal immigration. The illegal population is a real drain on tax dollars and hospital emergency rooms, and they never contribute enough in sales taxes/payroll taxes to make up teh diff. Close the border to illegals! |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-04-28 11:31:28 AM |
| #1 (the former Anonymous4052) We cannot simply dismiss any concern about immigration as racism. Hmmm- Looks like Mr. Blair is getting more and more wisdom every day. I really like our president, but I wish he'd get some of the same clarity. Although he doesn't use the term racism, he does seem to be pandering to the Hispanic vote in the Southwest. Yet many Hispanics are bothered by the illegal immigration problem here. (I am in California) All us "Anglos" aren't so concerned about the people from Mexico, and Central America as we are about people using the Southern border for netharious purposes. Anecdotal reports about abandoned Islamic prayer books, in Arabic, and prayer rugs found in isolated locations on ranches in Southern Arizona gives one the creeps. One wonders what these folks brought in besides the rugs and books that they didn't abandon. |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-04-28 11:14:04 AM |