On 14 February immigration police carried out raids in Newcastle, Whickham and Bedlington and arrested nine people from Bangladesh and China on suspicion of ‘illegal working’. This is the hypocrisy of the British government – working class migrants are accused of being a drain on public services and not contributing, yet when they do work they are arrested and deported for doing so. Nobody would choose to work illegally, working class migrants are being criminalised by the British state for doing something that would be perfectly normal and lawful for a British citizen – this is racism. Immigration raids on workplaces will not stop immigration, but they drive a section of workers further underground, into extremely exploitative and insecure working conditions. Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! North East extend our solidarity to all those arrested – if you want to work together to oppose immigration raids and deportations, get in touch, by phone on 078 5834 6276 or by email at [email protected].
As has happened before, the Evening Chronicle newspaper have collaborated with the immigration police by concluding their report of the raids with a call for informants, stating: “Anyone who suspects that illegal workers are being employed at a business or someone is living in the UK illegally can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on their hotline…” You can bet that it won’t be visa overstayers from New Zealand or Australia who will be reported to the authorities as a result – instead suspicions of criminality will be directed at people of Bangladeshi or Chinese ethnicity, and every local racist will be given the green light to call the police on their neighbour or takeaway workers simply for ‘looking foreign’. Complaints can be directed to the Evening Chronicle Editor Darren Thwaites by phone on 0191 201 6231 or by email at [email protected]
