Operation Skybreaker likely to create fear, suspicion and division in Wembley Central

 

https://network23.org/antiraids/

Operation Skybreaker is an attempt at engagement within local communities to force people who are here without permission to go back. Operation Skybreaker, a pilot project, will run for about another five months and target five London boroughs, Brent, Ealing, Greenwich,  Newham, and Tower Hamlets. It will focus on businesses that employ people illegally, registry offices, and housing services. In Brent it will focus on Wembley Central ward.

Here Brent Anti Racism Campaign explore the issue.

Operation Skybreaker the latest government crackdown on illegal immigrants has been painted in a misleadingly positive light (Home Office to target bosses who employ illegal immigrants in Wembley, kilburntimes.co.uk, 22 August). Operation Skybreaker will be rolled out across five London boroughs, of which Brent is one. It will target businesses, registry offices and housing services. But in Brent it seems that the focus will mainly be on business premises in Wembley Central.   

The Home Office has delivered reassurances that the objective of Operation Skybreaker is to enforce compliance, but given the number of different types of legal paperwork relating to one’s immigration status, this is really difficult. Although it is true that undocumented workers are extremely vulnerable to exploitation, let’s not pretend that the latest government endeavour is part of some sort of compassion led agenda to end exploitative labour practices.

If this government cared about exploitation, the minimum wage would have been raised significantly, there would have been no bedroom tax and public sector employees would not have been subject to pay freezes. One of the evident motivating factors behind Operation Skybreaker is to develop marketing propaganda for the Conservative party against the UKIP threat. The three major UK political parties are in a race to create an image of being tough on immigrants, whether they are here legally or not. Anti migrant sentiment is rampant across the UK and Europe, and this is exactly what the government is pandering to ahead of the General Election.

Additionally, as we saw with Operation Centurion, people working here legally who may not “look right” are very likely to be targets.  There was a significant element of racial profiling in this last operation. The Home Office has stressed that there will not be a heavy handed approach, but the department has a far from rosy track record.  Following the “go home” vans, the racial profiling by UKBA officials in Brent last year and the deaths and poor treatment of asylum seekers in custody, there is a real lack of trust. This will be further weakened in the very diverse but cohesive London communities which will be subject to raids in the coming months.  

A vital question to ask is how effective are these actions? Are the results really worth the community tension caused by racial profiling and wrongful arrests? Also let’s not forget that “weeding out” rogue employers also means low paid workers will lose the little income and security they and their families have. There is a risk they will be deported into some potentially quite dangerous circumstances. These are not nameless, faceless people we are talking about.  These are people living in our communities.  The term “illegal immigrant” is toxic, and incredibly dehumanising. We simply do not hear enough of the human side of the story in the media that would contextualises a person’s life choices.  It is highly unlikely you choose to enter a country illegally and take on quite a difficult existence, unless there are some dire circumstances driving you to take such decisions. We really need a more open and compassionate discussion at a national and international level on how we treat undocumented workers.

As it stands the Skybreaker operation is likely to create suspicion, fear and division in our community and should be opposed.

Background LINK

Brent Anti Racism is organising opposition to Operation Skybreaker and ensuring people affected have access to independent advice. If you want to get involved in this or any of our other activities please contact brentantiracismcmapign@gmail.com

How should the community respond to 'Operation Skybreaker'? Brent Against Racism meeting tomorrow

Notice from Brent Against Racism Campaign (BARC)

Brent is one of 5 London boroughs currently being targeted in a new Home Office immigration operation, called Operation Skybreaker. This operation will see aggressive and heavy-handed raids on homes and businesses aimed at driving migrants out of the country. It is likely to result in racial profiling (i.e., stopping anyone who looks like they might be a migrant) and a number of “fishing raids” (random raids not based on specific intelligence).

Brent Anti-Racism Campaign will host a meeting with guests from RAMFEL (Refugee and Migrant Forum of Essex and London) and the Anti Raids Network to discuss the community response to this. 

Please join us on Wednesday 13 August, 7pm at Brent Trades Hall (Apollo Club), 375 High Road, London NW10 2JR (next to Willesden bus garage, 5 mins from Dollis Hill tube)

More info from brentantiracismcampaign@gmail.com or info@ramfel.org.uk. Facebook: Brent Anti Racism Campaign Twitter: @BrentAntiRacism

'Racist van' will not return without consultation following legal action threat

Solicitors Deighton Pierece Glynn issued the following statement this morning:

The Home Office have agreed never to run adverts telling migrants to go home again without consulting.

Following our letter to the Home Office, threatening legal action of the decision to pilot a campaign driving large vans around London which displayed messages telling migrants to ‘go home’, the Government has confirmed that if any further campaigns of a similar nature are planned, they would carry out a consultation with local authorities and community groups. The Government accepted that the purpose of consulting would be so that it could have ‘due regard’ to the effect a campaign of this nature would have on the communities living in the affected areas.

Our clients’ legal challenge was based on the Government’s failure to comply with the public sector equality duty under the Equality Act 2010. This duty requires the Government to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination and harassment based on race and religion, as well as to foster good relations between people from different racial and religious groups. Due to the inflammatory nature of the campaign, as voiced by several prominent public figures including Vince Cable MP and the leaders of Brent and Redbridge Councils, the due regard duty was high, and a consultation should have been carried out before the pilot began so that the Government could have properly considered the effect of the campaign before deciding whether to go ahead.

The one week pilot has ended. However, the Government has provided an assurance that if the Home Office were to carry out any further campaigns of this nature it would have due regard to the effect this would have on migrants living in those communities and in so doing would carry out a consultation. Any such consultation would of course have to be meaningful.

One of our clients, Raymond Murray, commented:

 I’m very pleased the Home Office has seen sense and will do things differently in future, and hopefully they’ll never try a stunt like this again.

Refugee and Migrant Forum of East London (RAMFEL) and Migrant Rights Network (MRN) will be running a series of workshops across London to support those interested in campaigning against the Government’s anti-immigration policies. Solicitors from Deighton Pierce Glynn and Bhatt Murphy will be on the discussion panels. See here for further information.

The Claimants are represented by Louise Whitfield and Sasha Rozansky.

Register for the workshops HERE

Supporting Immigrants in London-Public Meetings