{"id":153522,"date":"2015-05-22T15:24:00","date_gmt":"2015-05-22T15:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=153522"},"modified":"2015-05-22T15:24:00","modified_gmt":"2015-05-22T15:24:00","slug":"tories-plan-jail-fine-illegal-migrant-workers-amid-highest-immigration-figures-since-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/tories-plan-jail-fine-illegal-migrant-workers-amid-highest-immigration-figures-since-2011\/","title":{"rendered":"Tories plan to jail, fine illegal migrant workers amid highest immigration figures since 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"

(RT<\/a>) –\u00a0Prime Minister David Cameron has unveiled new laws to prosecute migrants working illegally in the UK as immigration figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) reveal that net immigration reached 318,000 in 2014.<\/p>\n

The latest figures
\nrepresent a catastrophic failure for the previous
\nConservative-led coalition, which pledged to have net migration
\ncapped at \u201ctens of thousands.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Quarterly ONS statistics show that net migration from outside the
\nEuropean Union is at its highest level since 2011, and is now
\nrising nearly as fast as migration from within the EU.<\/p>\n

The total migration figure of 318,000 is a 20,000 increase on the
\nprevious four-quarterly total of 298,000. This nears the 2005
\ntotal of 320,000 recorded at the height of the first post-EU
\nexpansion wave of eastern European migration.<\/p>\n

The rise in non-EU immigration will present a further challenge
\nfor Cameron, who has previously laid out plans to tackle
\nimmigration by challenge the EU principle of free movement of
\nlabor.<\/p>\n

Madeline Sumption from the Migration Observatory at the
\nUniversity of Oxford said that today\u2019s figures show \u201chow
\ndifficult it would be to reduce net migration to the \u2018tens of
\nthousands.\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cNet migration has risen even despite new restrictions on
\nfamily, work and student visas that were introduced during the
\nlast parliament,<\/em>\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Cameron countered controversy surrounding the latest figures
\nThursday by announcing proposals to criminalize illegal work in
\nBritain.<\/p>\n

Making his first major speech since his reelection, Cameron said
\nUK authorities would crack down on immigrants who violate the
\nconditions of their stay in Britain. He said such legal breaches
\ncould see immigrants imprisoned for six months.<\/p>\n

A statement from Number 10 said: \u201cThe new criminal offence of
\nillegal working will apply to migrants who have entered the
\ncountry illegally and also those who came to the country legally
\nbut are in breach of their conditions or have overstayed.”<\/em><\/p>\n

“It will deprive illegal migrants of their wages, which will
\nmake it harder for them to stay in the UK,\u201d the statement
\nsaid.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt will also mean that people who are here illegally can\u2019t
\nbenefit from working and police can seize wages as proceeds of
\ncrime.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

In response to the proposals, Cameron\u2019s former Coalition
\npartners, the Lib Dems, said the Tories were once more
\n\u201cpushing the button\u201d<\/em> of tackling immigration without
\nconsidering the consequences.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Tories promised to cut net migration to tens of
\nthousands but failed spectacularly. Instead of admitting their
\ntarget was a stupid idea, they have pushed the \u2018let\u2019s sound tough
\non immigration\u2019 button yet again,<\/em>\u201d Lib Dem peer Lord Paddick
\nsaid.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheresa May needs to get it into her head \u2014 not all
\nimmigration is bad. If she was serious about cracking down on
\nillegal immigration she should concentrate on what works and not
\ntar all immigrants with the same brush.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Labour MP Yvette Cooper said she thought Cameron was \u201ctaking
\npeople for fools<\/em>.\u201d She said the gap between \u201crhetoric
\nand reality, between promise and delivery\u201d<\/em> was eroding trust
\nin the newly formed government.<\/p>\n

The Green Party also criticized the measures, describing them as
\n\u201carbitrary and illogical.\u201d<\/em>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News<\/a> with permission or license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(RT) –\u00a0Prime Minister David Cameron has unveiled new laws to prosecute migrants working illegally in the UK as immigration figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) reveal that net immigration reached 318,000 in 2014. The latest figures represent a catastrophic failure for the previous Conservative-led coalition, which pledged to have net migration capped at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":153523,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[487,1615],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-153522","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news","8":"category-uk-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}