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U.K.: amnesty for illegal migrants likely

Hasan Suroor

LONDON: An estimated half a million migrants, living in Britain illegally and constituting virtually a parallel economy, could be offered amnesty to save the Government the almost impossible task of deporting them.

It would also help generate nearly £1 billion in taxes if illegal migrants are allowed to stay, work and pay taxes.

Immigration Minister Liam Byrne said he had commissioned a report on the issue and he would wait for the "analysis'' before taking a decision

"The position I'm in is really needing to understand in more detail than I do at the moment the precise segmentation of people whose positions have not been regularised... .I have commissioned some analysis," Mr. Byrne told the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee when asked whether Britain should follow countries which had offered amnesty to their illegal migrants. There are no official figures as to how many people in Britain live illegally and Prime Minister Tony Blair has said the very nature of such migration makes it impossible to put a number on it. But estimates range from 300,000 to 570,000.

Pressure

Despite pressure from human rights groups, religious figures and trade unions to regularise the status of such people, the Government has resisted the idea arguing that it would encourage illegal migration. Four years ago, a report of the House of Lords called for amnesty for the "growing under-class'' of people who could not be deported. Leading religious figures such as Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, leader of Roman Catholics, has also supported the idea. But Mr. Byrne's remarks provoked a sharp reaction from Right-wing quarters including the Conservative Party which said that it was "highly irresponsible'' to talk about an amnesty.

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