Home Office planned ID card criminal checks
Tuesday, 8 June 2010 3:20 PM
By Ian Dunt
The Home Office planned to cross-references its database of legal immigrants with criminals' fingerprints, it has emerged.
A freedom of information request made by campaign group No2ID last year was returned to the organisation with the redacted sections still visible.
The document, seen by politics.co.uk, reveals that the Home Office was already starting to cross-reference the biometric residence permit (BRP) fingerprint database with those of the police and security services.
"These checks thus enhance the security of the UK and help the UK economy by reducing criminality and deterring criminals from applying for cards and from committing crimes whilst in the UK," the document reads.
"It reduces the reputational risk to the Home Office that migrants convicted of serious crimes are granted leave to remain and issued with a BRP card."
The revelation substantiates arguments from civil libertarians that the dependence on databases leads to all citizens eventually being treated like common criminals.
But security experts and police argue that standard cross-referencing of databases helps keep criminals out the UK and protect the country from a terrorist attack.
"The automatic linking of biometric visas to the criminal databases effectively treats all visitors to this country, all people who work and live here, as criminal suspects," said Phil Booth, of No2ID.
"How do you think Madonna, the board of Sonyor and half the Premier League are going to feel being treated like criminals?"
The document also reveals that the Home Office considered merging asylum registration cards (ARC) with ID cards for foreign nationals (ICFN).
The documents do not reveal whether the policy was followed through, however.
"The rate of asylum has significantly increased resulting in limited card availability therefore a decision needs to be made in order to further provide cards to asylum seekers," the document reads.
"Options presented to the Board were: 1. To integrate the ARC card in to the ICFN family as a variant or; 2. To put in a repeat order for existing cards."
General immigration and asylum are usually treated as entirely different categories for ethical and legal reasons.
The Home Office's consideration of whether to merge the ID systems for both categories marks a distinct contrast with standard government policy.
"It's a last gasp effort to save the xenophobic PR of the ID scheme," Mr Booth commented.
Anita Coles, policy officer at Liberty, said: "UK citizens can breathe a sigh of relief that they have been scrapped but non-citizens cannot yet join the celebrations.
"To truly make a clean break from the mistakes of the past, the government needs to end the divisive language of 'ID cards for foreign nationals' and review the amount of information, including biometrics, being stored on people from outside the European Union."
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