By Chris Williamson-
Banks and building societies will carry out immigration checks on 70 million current accounts from January.
The move is said to be an extension of Theresa May’s plans to prioritise the interests of British citizens over illegal immigrants.
Journalists from the Uk Guardian have established the aim as being to create a “hostile environment” for illegal immigrants in Britain. Ever since the outcome of the referendum, Theresa May has sought to satisfy hard core brexitiers who believe that British workers are increasingly being side lined from several jobs because of illegal immigrants who are lured into accepting peanuts pay for jobs British workers won’t accept.
There are several EU migrants who also earn decent pay in hardworking jobs in the Uk, but the perception that British people are becoming second class citizens in the labour market thrived among many British voters. In reality there have always been more jobs than people are willing to apply for, with a sizeable fraction of the British working class resigned to welfare benefits or illegal activities instead of working.
However, the move of the government ticks the political box for hard brexit supporters. They don’t want illegal immigrants in the Uk shortening their ration, and why should they? The main issue is where their objection is based on mistaken or racial grounds disguised as economic or security reasons. In genuine examples of anti –European Union sentiments, the drive perception that migrants affect the ability of British born citizens to gain employment may be partly true where migrants work secretly for below the minimum wage. That aside, other feelings are based on the political outlook of the individual.
FROZEN
The Home Office are expected to identify 6,000 visa overstayers, failed asylum seekers and foreign national offenders facing deportation in the first year of the checks, which will be quarterly conducted.
Accounts of those identified will be closed down or frozen “to make it harder for them to establish or maintain a settled life in the UK”. Officials say freezing accounts that hold significant sums “will create a powerful incentive [for those involved] to agree to voluntary departure” so they can secure their money once they have left the country.
Immigration welfare campaigners have expressed alarm at the move, warning that the Home Office’s recent record means it cannot be trusted to implement this new system without errors and that migrants with every right to be in Britain were likely to be hit by mistakes in the imposition of the checks.
Satbir Singh, the chief executive of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, criticised the move: “The government’s own record shows it cannot be trusted even to implement this system properly. Immigration status is very complex, and the Home Office consistently gives out incorrect information and guidance.
“Migrants and ethnic minorities with every right to be here will be affected by the imposition of these new checks.”.
Banks have been told to adopt a default position of telling customers to take up the matter with the Home Office if a mistake has been made, even if they provide a passport or biometric residence permit showing they are lawfully present in Britain.
Status checks are required by anyone opening a new bank or building society account under the Immigration Act 2014, but no measure has previously required checks on the scale of every current account in Britain.
HOME OFFICE DATABASE
The identity of every current account holder will be checked against a Home Office supplied database held by an anti-fraud organisation, Cifas. It includes details of those whom the Home Office regard as liable for removal or deportation because they are overstayers, failed asylum seekers or those who have absconded from immigration detention. Even none British born residents with resident permits are liable to be deported in the event of committing a criminal offence, regardless of the length of time they have been resident in the UK.