The campaign proposes that those who have been here for more than four years should be given a two-year period with the right to work provided they speak English and don’t have criminal records.
The campaign will only succeed if people pull together and support it. This can be done in many ways such as writing to your MP and telling them of your experiences or if you are too afraid, get a friend to write for you. Stories are needed to show the British people what it is like for others to live in fear and uncertainty within the UK. The campaign wants to know about your experiences of living illegally: how you live, survive, work. (The ZA is also collecting stories of difficulties with the asylum process for the Independent Asylum Commission.)
This year, 2007, provides unique opportunities for regularisation. The UK Borders Bill aims to set up entry and exit control registers in Britain but also needs to tackle the problem of the many end-of-process asylum seekers and “illegals” already within Britain. It is also the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade, perhaps the perfect time to release people from the fear and misery of exploitation and the low wages of illegal working. Contributing to the “Strangers into Citizens” campaign may help change history and create a new more humane political climate.
On 20 March there will be a Birmingham Citizens Assembly in which the “Strangers into Citizens” campaign will feature strongly. On 7 May a major demonstration will be held in London for migrants. Tell your friends now. We will meet you there!
Numbers of detainees known to us have risen recently as people finish serving sentences for such offences as ‘illegal working’ and are transferred to detention centres.
As yet, we have no dates for the publication of the AA ruling but will keep our readers informed.
We can usually be contacted at the office on 020 7549 0355 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, messages may be left on the answer machine at other times, or by fax 020 7549 0356 or email: zimbabweassociation@yahoo.co.uk. We also have a website at www.zimbabweassociation.org .