Borders bill

Thursday, 25 Jan 2007 08:50

Borders bill: Wide range of new powers

Friday, 26, Jan 2007 12:00

A new bill will give immigration officers wide ranging powers to arrest suspected people traffickers and force foreign residents to carry ID cards.

The UK borders bill will require non-EEA nationals to have biometric identity cards to cut down on illegal working. Those without ID could be fined and removed from the UK.

Foreign prisoners serving sentences of over a year or who committed drug and terrorism crimes or offences against children will be automatically deported and will no longer have the right to appeal from the UK, "except under very specific circumstances".

Frontline immigration staff will get more powers, including the ability to arrest suspect people traffickers, even if their crimes were committed abroad.

They will also be able to arrest those "they believe to have fraudulently been acquiring asylum-support, and to exercise associated powers of entry, search and seizure".

A new agency, the Border and Immigration Agency, will take responsibility for the area on April 1st.

Tories: Action not rhetoric needed on immigration

NO2ID: ID cards won't stop illegal immigration

Lib Dems: Govt should tackle immigration incompetence

Borders bill: Wide range of new powers

Byrne: Borders bill is a radical shake-up

Biometic identity cards will be mandatory for foreign residents

Liberty: ID cards could be racially divisive

IAS: Immigration laws need simplifying

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