UK: Immigration Invasion Roundup

Thornton Heath, Croydon–Asylum seekers brought chaos to the Croydon district of Thornton Heath when nearly two dozen were involved in a street brawl last Wednesday. The incident, largely ignored by the controlled media, started in a halfway house but spilled out onto Brigstock Road with men hitting each other with metal chains and planks of wood.

Trouble flared after a row broke out in the kitchen of the home where asylum seekers stay while they wait for their applications to be processed, shortly before 5.30pm.

Witnesses say the fight began when one man demanded food from staff and threatened to call the police if he was not fed. It is then claimed two other men set upon him using a metal chain and wooden sticks.

Iranian national Bahman Albert, 22, was inside the halfway house when the fight broke out. He said: “A young guy inside asked them for food. They didn’t give it to him so he said he would call the police so they beat him up.

“They attacked him because he said he would go to the police. They came and beat him in the street with a broom. They ran behind him and slapped him very hard. They used a big chain to slap him.”

Dozens continued fighting in the street, causing disruption for local traders. Police and ambulances were called and one man was treated at the scene for injuries.

London–Thousands of migrants are celebrating another legal victory over the Home Office after being given the green light to challenge retrospective changes to their visas. Campaigners HSMP Forum applied to the High Court seeking permission to challenge government rules forcing migrants to extend their visas to five years when they were originally promised permanent settlement in the UK, known as indefinite leave to remain, after four years.

A High Court judge said HSMP Forum “clearly has an arguable case”, and threw out home secretary Jacqui Smith’s attempts to stall proceedings. A full hearing is due soon.

Earlier this year, HSMP Forum won a long-running legal battle forcing the government to repeal changes that made it much harder for migrants to gain permanent settlement in the UK. The government subsequently repealed the stricter rules but not the change from four to five years. Amit Kapadia, executive director of HSMP Forum, which represents people with highly skilled migrant programme visas, said several people have won individual cases forcing the Home Office to grant them permanent settlement after four years as originally promised.

“The rule changes we are fighting against have been repeatedly condemned on all sides of politics, including by the government’s own MPs, members of the House of Lords, various government and non-government committees and human rights experts — and, of course, by the High Court,” Kapadia said.

Bury St. Edmonds–A Romanian national who came to the UK to find work has been jailed for trying to use a cloned credit card at a Suffolk building society.

Staff at a Nationwide branch in Bury St Edmunds became suspicious when they noticed two men, including 27-year-old Constantin Ablonczi, acting suspiciously at a cash machine, Ipswich Crown Court was told.

As staff approached the men they walked off, leaving behind a blank silver card the size of a credit card, in the machine, said Godfried Duah, prosecuting.

The police were called and CCTV footage of the area around the machine was studied, said Mr Duah. Two hours later a CCTV operator spotted Ablonczi in Bury town centre and he was arrested. Officers found two further blank credit type cards with similar magnetic strips on the back in his possession as well as £120 cash.

Ablonczi, of no fixed address, admitted being in possession of an article for use in fraud and possession of criminal property. He was jailed for six months and had the £120 found on him confiscated under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Carlisle–A Bangladeshi man who falsified immigration papers to stay in Cumbria and see a British Christmas was jailed — but he’ll be free before the big day.

Judge Barbara Forrester ruled against recommending the immediate deportation of Akbar Khandaker, who is in his 30s, because he had cooperated with officials and posed no threat.

Carlisle Crown Court heard how the defendant was arrested after a raid on takeaway premises on Blackwell Road in Carlisle. When immigration officials inspected his documents, they realised that Khandaker had a photocopy of somebody else’s passport, but he had superimposed his own photo on it.

This effectively meant he was able to outstay the six months he was allowed in the UK on his own work permit. Khandaker said he falsified the document because his six-month leave to stay had expired and he planned to show the false papers to a police officer if he were challenged.

Roger Moore, for Khandaker, described his client as a naive young man. “When he was interviewed after his arrest, he spoke of his desire to see Scotland and to experience a British Christmas. Those were the two things uppermost in his mind. He likes this country and would wish to stay.”

As he has already served 77 days while waiting for the case to come to court, he is likely to be free within days.

Wigan–Failed asylum seeker spared jail because he is working. An asylum seeker living in Wigan has been spared jail “because he is working.”

Mohmad Maamain Alzain arrived in this country after fleeing Sudan. He applied for asylum, was given £39 a week subsistence and told he could not work. His asylum application was refused and, as his lawyers delayed appealing, he lost his subsistence but was still not allowed to work.

Using someone else’s passport and national insurance number he began working as a cleaner for Hitchen Foods in Wigan. Liverpool Crown Court heard that that Alzain, who had given his real bank account details, worked there from January 2006 as a night shift cleaner.

In October last year, his asylum appeal was allowed and he was given an NI number and told he could claim benefits.

His barrister, John Dixon, said that Alzain felt in a difficult position because if he revealed he did not need to claim benefits, suspicion would fall on him so he started claiming benefits.

The court heard that, by then, he had dishonestly obtained £971 in benefits. He lost his job but has since gone out and got one cleaning for another firm.

Sentencing 29-year-old Alzain, Judge John Phipps said that he had a strong work ethic and had wanted to provide for himself and his family in Sudan. He sentenced him to four months imprisonment suspended for 12 months and ordered him to carry out 100 hours unpaid work.

Calais, France–Ten illegal immigrants who attempted to smuggle themselves into the UK by hiding in a lorry full of sofas bound for Wrexham were thwarted by Border Agency officers.

The five Iranians, three Iraqis and two Palestinians were found aboard a Romanian-registered lorry which was stopped at Calais last Monday.

When UK Border Agency officials based in France checked the lorry with a carbon dioxide probe, it showed an elevated reading, indicating that there were people inside.

A search revealed the 10 men hidden within the load of leather sofas. The lorry was heading for Wrexham, but was stopped before it could board a ferry across the channel. The illegal immigrants were handed over to the French authorities.

St. Albans–Two illegal immigrants were caught during a crackdown on foreign stowaways at a motorway service station on Monday. The UK Border Agency and Herts Police led a joint operation at the South Mimms service station on the M25 which targeted those who get into the country in the back of lorries.

The two men they found were from Iraq and Iran and both were arrested before being taken to an immigration detention centre in a new mobile vehicle which is fitted out with eight cells.

Immigration officers also found two lorry drivers who had failed to pay a total of £3,700 in fines for bringing illegal immigrants into the UK and both of their vehicles were detained until they made arrangements to pay up.

A Lithuanian driver was also arrested when he was found to be above the legal limit of alcohol and his vehicle was seized.

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