1. Some were not able to keep up with their student fees, having to pay college fees of thousands a year, plus rent a room, plus living expenses on working only 20 hours a week. Sorry I know that there are thousands that make it by this method, but there are hundreds that are not able to do the same.

2 There are some that have put in a status claim to the home office and the home office has kept their passport for years and left them without legal status.

3. There are people that sent in legitimate status claims with the appropriate fees, the home office has kept their passports for significant periods of time only to then later on refuse them for no reason and yet still keep the money.

4.And then there is me, I went a ‘lawyer’ who sent my passport to the home office for indefinite leave to remain status,which I got. GUESS WHAT?? The status was fake!! I only found this out a few weeks ago. I have worked really hard and made a life for myself in the UK and have nothing to go back home to.

There are a lot of things and reasons why people are illegal in this country,other than, coming here to purposely brak the law. If anyone out there works in the home office or has a family member or friend, they will know that I speak the truth.

Although the dictionary allows ‘illegal’ as a noun as well as an adjective, common courtesy doesn’t. Defining a human being as ‘an illegal’ is something we should avoid, for reasons which should be obvious.

On the ‘christianly’ thing; I’m not a christian myself (I’m guessing you are, excuse the presumption) but I am familiar with the religion and the charity to strangers/ forgiveness parts of it are not optional extras. They are commonly treated as such, but you really are supposed to take the whole package seriously, not just the parts that match your inclinations.

The discussion is on UK immigration.

For the record, I don’t see a full amnesty (in the sense that if you have managed to set foot in the country you can stay) is a good idea. But where someone has been here, say, three years, can show a clean criminal record and has worked to support themselves then they should be cut some slack. Perhaps a two year temporary residence permit (with NI number etc) which translates to a permanent one if they continue as they have done.

For the most part this proposal seems to be aimed at the army of people without status who do the jobs no-one else is prepared to do. We know they are here, the authorities know they are here, but as long as they provide cheap peon labour no-one really wants them gone. Their illegal status is just a sly way of condoning what is effectively a helot class.

“They didn’t necessarily break any law – the govt has classified them as such. And anyway, a lot of them are NOT illegal. You can’t be an illegal asylum seeker because there is nothing know as a legal asylum seekers. There is only an asylum seeker. So not all these people are illegal. They’re just in a legal no-man’s land because they can’t work legally and nether can they go back ‘home’.”

If you are a failed asluym seeker, and have escaped deportation, then you have broken the law.

“If offered Amnesty, they would no longer be harassed by immigration services.”

But then the next lot would.

MaidMarian:

“The other unspoken issue is that racially sensitive toes may have to be stepped on in any drive to get a hold of the issues here.”

Yes, we will have to grasp the bull by the horns.

Jer mynor:

“Have you gone completely off your rocker?”

Certainly, but that does not invalidate the argument.

“Listen, Illegals cost us , the taxpayer $ 19,000 more because of their invasion. ( $ 866 Billion per year).”

Actually, they probably save you money, as they do jobs nobody else wants and keep the economy functioning. On a side note, this is a debate about immigration in Britain, although the issues raised are pertinent in any developed country.

“It is a christianly thing and so on and on, BUT, we all made it in our country, why dont they go and protest in their own country , build it up to what we have over the years, instead of jumping the fence to capitalize on our good fortunes.

This is nothing more than thievery…!!! Now you want to also reward them with forgiveness….Your a real lulu….”

The average illegal immigrant does not want to suckle on the taxpayers’ teat, but make a better life for themselves, and/or escape persecution.

Francisco:

“Im an illegal alien in the USA i came here
when i was 11 and im now 26,so i really had no choice,
I work and pay my taxes, and my record is clean
and now i have a family my kids where born here.”

And I suspect that your story is far from unusual among illegal immigrants.

sounds like you dont know anything your just an angry person inside do some homework before you open your mouth
theres lots of familys that are here because back in there countries they would either be dead or living under a shack what would you do if your family and kids where in that situation??? i understand what people are saying and i agree thee is a lot criminals
but theres also alot of familys that are fighting for there familys so that they can have a decent live, and like i said i pay taxes and get nothing back do some research on TIN (tax identification number) it lets people like me that are illegal do our taxes
last year i was suppouse to get back 3000 but htats if i had a good SS since i dont i got nothing where do you think money goes?

Im an illegal alien in the USA i came here
when i was 11 and im now 26,so i really had no choice,
I work and pay my taxes, and my record is clean
and now i have a family my kids where born here
i have worked and done everything by the law
I can understand why alot of people are againest
legalising illegal immigrants, as i see alot of them
are lazy and are up to no good, but for everyone of
thoes 3 like me who have lived here all of our lifes
done everything by the book but are struglin to make a life for our familys because our parents chose to bring us here, i mean yes i could go back to mexico
but what will i do there, i cant feed my family on 150
dollars every 15 days, my kids wont get a good education there so im in a way forced to stay here
and go from job to job w/o a chance to become legal
because i get treated as a law braker, eaven thoug i had no choice, so basicaly my point is that they need look at people like me that have been here for a long time have clean records and have worked and paid taxes while here, and are looking to provide for there
families. they need to look at people that have been here for 10 plus years and have clean records thoes are the pople who should be legaliced, and by doing that it would make it easier to single out criminals and such, sorry if i dont make to much sense

Now I raised 6 of my own and no one asked me if I want to support lesser status persons for their lives.

It is a christianly thing and so on and on, BUT, we all made it in our country, why dont they go and protest in their own country , build it up to what we have over the years, instead of jumping the fence to capitalize on our good fortunes.

This is nothing more than thievery…!!! Now you want to also reward them with forgiveness….Your a real lulu….
There have been persons waiting in line to enter this country for as long as 14 years, those who are learned in higher professions, who speak the language, and would be an immediate asset to our country. What about granting admittance to them ?

Why reward bad boys instead of these fine people who are also from the Hispanic communities who got off their dead asses and became something…Are the lawbreakers just lazy..?

I dont want to call you any names, but lady, you have lost your logical thinking and have forgot this country has quotas for immigration, and now its been shot to hell forever, because you want to grant them immunity….
What a country that completely craps on those who have worked to become something and we now just forget that honesty and LEGAL rules…!!!
Discard those good for those bad….@#$%^&* ???????

NO. Definitey not.

The comment at 6 confuses the issue. As ever in discussing immigration we have to distinguish EXACTLY who it is we are speaking about. Asylum seekers who are in the country legally and illegal immigrants are distinct groups and need to be considered differently.

For what it’s worth, your overall prescription of massively changing the law is the right one, and I suspect that money may have to be thrown at this too. The other unspoken issue is that racially sensitive toes may have to be stepped on in any drive to get a hold of the issues here.

It is also worth pointing out that those of us (my wife is an immigrant) who have jumped through the bureaucratic hoops, lived with the uncertainty of ‘no recourse’ visas and paid high fees would be essentially be insulted by watching out-and-out law-breakers be rewarded for illegality.

platinum786 (10) – Sorry, to my mind the people you are talking about are not ‘victims.’ They may be in dire straits, but unless they have been moved absolutely against their will they are to my mind complicit in breaking or conspiring to break immigration law at least to some degree. Unless they thought that all countries operate open borders.