For the first time in half a century, the state will have no obligation to guarantee basic welfare to refugees. Announcing the bill in July, Home Secretary Jack Straw declared, "We need a system which reduces the incentive to economic migration and which recognizes that what the genuine asylum seeker needs is food and shelter and not a giro cheque."

Until now refugees who seek asylum on entry can claim state income support, set at the official poverty level. All asylum seekers must now prove that they have no family or friends to keep them while their asylum claim is considered. Savings and jewelry over a certain amount must be declared and are considered income. Only refugees who prove destitution will receive government aid.

This assistance puts recipients at 30 percent below the official poverty level and is largely in the form of vouchers to be redeemed in specified supermarkets, to purchase a restricted list of goods. A family of four will be provided with £90.80 per week (£1=US$1.50). This includes a token cash payment, initially set at £1 per day for an adult and 50 pence per child. After threatened opposition by a small number of Labour members of Parliament, the cash component increased to £10 a week ($15) per adult and child. These MP's are now reported to accept the Bill.

It is illegal for asylum seekers to work while their claims are considered. At present refugees wait an average of two years for their status to be reviewed. Many wait longer, pending appeals against deportation. The bill aims to cut this to two months with more limited rights to appeal.

Refugees claiming aid will have no choice over where they live. On arrival they will be sent anywhere in the UK. The Home Office has already requested the use of army barracks in Dover to house them.

The government has also announced an extra £120 million for more immigration officials. The Bill introduces extra powers of search, arrest and detention for these officers.

Every year more than 9,000 asylum seekers are detained in prison or detention center. They can be held at any time, for any reason and with no time limit. Most are not charged with any criminal offense.

Home Office minister Lord Bassam announced in August that Roma (Gypsy) refugees from the Czech Republic may be denied asylum status if they fail to obtain visas before entering the UK. Figures up to 1997 show that no Roma from the Czech Republic or Slovakia have been granted refugee status in Britain. In 1998, 65 percent of processed asylum claims were rejected. In December 1998 more than 64,000 asylum seekers awaited an initial review.  
 

Actions defend immigrant rights

Immigrant rights and refugee organizations have campaigned against these attacks with demonstrations, lobbies and court action. On February 27 this year 3,000 people marched through London.

In 1997 asylum seekers held without charge at the Campsfield House detention center near Oxford took action after two detainees were brutally removed to a prison. Five detainees were later acquitted of charges of riot but were removed to prison in Rochester. A hunger strike of Campsfield detainees in 1998 demanded their release.

In August this year two refugees, a Kurd from Turkey and an Algerian, won a high court ruling against prosecution for using false passports in their escape from persecution in their own countries. This ruling is a direct challenge to the new legislation, which makes it a criminal offense for refugees to use false papers.

In addition, immigrant workers at Lufthansa Skychefs at Heathrow airport in London have been on strike for 10 months to defend their right to use union action against poor pay and conditions.

The anti-immigrant campaign is particularly virulent in the south coast port of Dover. Since 1997 the local council and media have shifted the blame for cuts in social services onto refugees entering the port. Roma from the Czech Republic or Slovakia and Kurdish refugees have been particular targets. The Dover Express accused them of being "welfare spongers, thieves and brothel keepers."  
 

Polarization in Dover

In 1997 the rightist National Front demonstrated in Dover, demanding the deportation of refugees. This summer Dover council officials warned about "a tinder box" in the town and demanded that refugees be "dispersed" elsewhere. Refugees had been subjected over months to physical attacks by rightist gangs. On the weekend of August 13, 11 people were injured in clashes between local youth and immigrants. Many received knife wounds. On this occasion, most of those injured were local youth who are white.

Militant reporters went Dover and talked with a family of Slovak refugees and their friends. Jaroslav Dyrda has been in Dover for three years. "In Slovakia we were attacked by skinheads and the police. We came here and now people say, 'Gypsy go home,' " he said.

Tatar Gegza came to the United Kingdom in 1997. "The police here keep stopping us, asking to see our papers. A year ago when the National Front came we were frightened for our children and stayed indoors," he said.

Jaroslav commented, "Not all people treat us like this. There are good and bad people in Slovakia just as there are good and bad in England." Militant reporters showed Jaroslav the August 30 issue of the Militant reporting the October immigrant rights demonstration in Washington D.C. He translated the demonstration demands to his friends: "Amnesty for the undocumented, the end to deportations and immigration raids, work permits for all and living wages." Jaroslav added, "This is what we want too."

Militant reporters also talked to a group of a dozen local youth at the fair where the clash had taken place. Fifteen-year-old Darren had received stitches for knife wounds in what he claimed was an unprovoked attack. He and his friends echoed the propaganda offensive from government officials and media.

The group had heard of a National Front demonstration that day along the road housing refugees. To build the action, the NF had stickered the area and handed out racist literature. None of the youth said they intended to go. The march failed to take place and there was no sign of the NF during the day. The Home Office has imposed a three month ban on immigration marches in Dover, including those defending immigrant rights.

The Labour government Asylum and Immigration bill feeds the myth that resources for housing and welfare are 'drained' by immigrants. At the same time, a survey by the Institute of Fiscal Studies published in August shows "The Blair government is on course to spend relatively less than any administration since that of Harold Macmillan (Conservative) 40 years ago," according to the national daily The Guardian.

Rose Knight contributed to this article.  
 
 
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