Britain's immigration laws are racist by design, with people of colour from former colonies most affected by detention, deportation and revocation of citizenship, a new report published today has found.
Following the King's Speech which declared the Border Security Bill a new human rights abuse, the Migrant Rights Network has published a report examining the central role that racism and colonialism play in immigration policy.
They point out that since their creation in 1792 to control colonies and plantation enterprises, immigration laws have existed to control, regulate or prevent so-called “undesirable people” from arriving and residing in the UK.
The bill highlights the role of the 1948 British Nationality Act, which allowed “aliens” to be naturalized as long as they had “good character” and shaped the notion of a “good immigrant” based on race.
It was introduced in the same year that HMS Windrush arrived in the UK.
The report highlights that since then, laws such as the Commonwealth Immigration Act 1962 and the British Nationality Act 1981 have been enacted to keep non-white communities in former colonies out of the UK.
The report points out that the “good character” test currently applied to applications for British citizenship evokes racist ideals of “civility” and the association between immigration and crime.
The report traces continuities between today's points-based immigration system and the work voucher system of the 1960s, and highlights that visa systems, including sponsored worker systems, are based on the “commodification of race” – economic exploitation and exploitation by the global North.
The NGO said revoking citizenship “legalized racism,” highlighting that of those whose citizenship has been revoked since 2002, 85 percent were African, South Asian or Middle Eastern nationals, and 83 percent were from former British colonies.
“For people of color and other marginalized groups, the system simply wasn't designed for us,” said Fiza Qureshi, CEO of the Immigrant Rights Network.
“That’s why we’re calling for the abolition of adversarial offices and the immigration system.
“With a new administration in place, we hope they will work with us to take a bold, transformative stance that puts immigration justice at the heart of their policies and work to dismantle these cruel structures that have made the lives of immigrants and migrants miserable.”