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Plans for tougher border controls | |
(about 6 hours later) | |
Tougher powers for immigration officers and compulsory identity cards for non-EU nationals are due to be part of government plans unveiled later. | |
The Borders Bill will propose several measures intended to strengthen the UK's borders. | |
The bill, the fifth on immigration control in eight years, is expected to make deportation of foreign prisoners automatic once their sentence ends. | |
Critics say ministers will extend the ID card system to UK citizens. | |
Immigration minister Liam Byrne said the ID cards scheme, which would require biometric data such as fingerprints and digital photographs, would make it easier to distinguish between illegal and legal immigrants. | |
"This bill is about introducing compulsory ID cards for foreign nationals because what business needs is something that is very, very simple," he said. | |
"I think it will encourage businesses to employ people who are here legally because it will have made the burden of understanding - whether someone is here legally - that bit easier." | |
The government really is stuck between a rock and a hard place Danny SriskandarajahInstitute for Public Policy Research | |
The legislation will not see the creation of a new border police force, but it will give immigration officers new powers of arrest for a range of offences. | The legislation will not see the creation of a new border police force, but it will give immigration officers new powers of arrest for a range of offences. |
These are understood to include more powers to detain and prosecute suspected organisers of people-trafficking. | |
BBC correspondent Rory Maclean said the plans were part of the government's long-term aim of being able to identify everyone entering and leaving Britain, and to limit illegal working. | BBC correspondent Rory Maclean said the plans were part of the government's long-term aim of being able to identify everyone entering and leaving Britain, and to limit illegal working. |
Immigration lawyers and human rights groups expressed concern that the Home Office already had enough power to deal with illegal immigration, but it was failing to do so. | |
Shami Chakrabarti, of human rights group Liberty, said the law could prove to be "racially divisive" if it resulted in immigration spot-checks on Britain's streets. | |
Government efforts | |
Last year David Roberts, of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate, said he did not have the "faintest idea" how many illegal immigrants there were in the UK. Some estimates put the number at about 400,000. | Last year David Roberts, of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate, said he did not have the "faintest idea" how many illegal immigrants there were in the UK. Some estimates put the number at about 400,000. |
Former Home Secretary Charles Clarke lost his job last year when it emerged more than 1,000 foreign prisoners had been released, having not been considered for deportation. | |
Danny Sriskandarajah, from the Institute for Public Policy Research, told the BBC he was not surprised the law was being introduced. | Danny Sriskandarajah, from the Institute for Public Policy Research, told the BBC he was not surprised the law was being introduced. |
"John Reid and previous home secretaries have been desperate to try to convince the British public that they have control over who comes and goes. | |
"I think the government really is stuck between a rock and a hard place. | |
"They have to do something, and the something that they've come up with is introducing biometric ID cards for foreign nationals." |