90pc asylum seekers given same date of birth (From Your Local Guardian)
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Asylum seekers given same date of birth at Lunar House
6:00am Thursday 29th January 2009 in Top stories Exclusive By Harry Miller
Almost 25,000 visitors to Lunar House in 2008 were given January 1 as a birth date
More than 90 per cent of asylum seekers registering at Croydon’s Lunar House are given the same date of birth, figures reveal.
UK Borders Agency figures obtained under the Freedom of Information act showed in 2008, 24,437 visitors to its headquarters on Wellesley Road were given the date of birth as January 1.
In 2007, of the 23,430 people applying for asylum in Britain, 21,652 – 90 per cent – were also given the January 1 birth date.
According to the Home Office, those given the new identical date of birth did not have valid identification which proved their age or were unable to recall when they were born.
The asylum seekers, predominantly Afghan, Iranian, Chinese, Iraqi and Eritrean nationals, either come into the country illegally and seek the right to stay from within or are caught attempting to smuggle themselves through ports.
A police source said: “A lot of the time we pick up guys who are obviously older than their identification says they are.
“They are men with stubble but according to their new British passports they are only 16 or 17-years-old.
"They commit crimes but are only ever convicted as minors, then because they are considered children they can’t be deported. It makes a mockery of the system.”
Of the the 23,430 people that applied during 2007, an estimated 6,540 resulted in grants of asylum, humanitarian protection or discretionary leave.
Tory MP and Shadow Secretary, Chris Grayling demanded that the UK Border Agency (UKBA) find out more about the people that it lets into the country.
Mr Grayling said: “This is an extraordinary situation, and underlines the fact that we have very little information about the people who are being allowed into the country. It beggars belief that the Border Agency is doing so little to find out more about asylum applicants.”
Comments(30)
cr2
says...
6:58am Thu 29 Jan 09
scoffer
says...
9:02am Thu 29 Jan 09
p.s. And you make a lot of sense Cr2 - Good-luck my friend.
CroydonGeorge
says...
10:16am Thu 29 Jan 09
Giving them all the 1st January as their birth date reminds me of another bureaucratic bit of nonsense in the EU some years ago. A roomful of MPs and civil servants were under orders to come to a decision on a bit of legislation. They had a deadline of midnight that day. At 11.59 p.m. they were still far from a decision so what did they do? They simply STOPPED the clock on the wall at 11.59 p.m. and continued their nit-picking discussions for the next few days!
Where there's a will there's a way, even if the way is just nonsense!
Brian Sewer
says...
12:05pm Thu 29 Jan 09
More pensioners need help so please just stop pussyfooting around the asylum people who say they cant remember there birthday or where they were born
Funny how they can remember to collect there benefits from the tax payer; and help black brown white or even green pensioners first !!!
macmeldrew
says...
12:07pm Thu 29 Jan 09
upper borewood
says...
12:17pm Thu 29 Jan 09
Carly
says...
12:30pm Thu 29 Jan 09
We should just ship them back out of our country.
I'm sorry but the majority of immigrants come over & abuse our NHS system, our housing system & have a blatent disregard of our laws and country as a whole.
So lets not waste our time even making up birthdates or buying torches to shine in their eyes, just kick them back into the lorry they smuggled themselves in & send them back
upper borewood
says...
12:39pm Thu 29 Jan 09
scoffer
says...
12:56pm Thu 29 Jan 09
NastyMrTom
says...
1:16pm Thu 29 Jan 09
upper borewood wrote:
Idiotic comments by people who have no understanding of what it is like to work in immigration. What do you suggest they do, strap them to a chair shine a light in their eyes until they remember or give up their date of birth? You require a date reagardless of accuracy to enable a travel document to be obtained, so based on the theory that you cannot force this information from the person and clearly people don't think they should put 1st of Jan. Shall we continue to let these people be more of a burdon than they already are until they give the information??? You have all shown yourselves to be the fools you clearly are!
excellent post ... this is a very un-balanced report.
Bob Peel
says...
1:33pm Thu 29 Jan 09
scoffer wrote:Absolute cobblers Scoffer. I want to see the back of these people too; they have no right here yet our Govt's of any political persuasion do nothing to counter this.
It's getting to the point where Anne, nastyoltom, bob, I hope s not, e.t.c. are dreading logging onto the good C.G. News forum!! yet another important news story of public concern waters down their arguments even further!! SOB!!
I totally agree with what CR2 has written as well as that written by Brian.
Carly has the right idea too.
Wonder what Cllr John Oddy would make of this from ColwynBay Towers...
upper borewood
says...
1:50pm Thu 29 Jan 09
Bob Peel
says...
1:54pm Thu 29 Jan 09
upper borewood wrote:Please explain the route out of the UK for a failed immigrant; I'm very interested.
It is clearly pointless explaining the difficulties of the frontline staff in immigration. However it annoys me that those without the intelligence or forethought to check out the facts, happily insult people doing a difficult job in the face of the media and as this article shows, members of parliment that have not checked all their facts and clearly do not know what they are talking about.
You can even mention places like Tinsley House Detention Centre at Gatwick if you like as an example.
Maybe you can explain why its never full to capacity.
upper borewood
says...
2:03pm Thu 29 Jan 09
Lez
says...
2:34pm Thu 29 Jan 09
Carly wrote:I'll vote for you.
Upper Borewood, of course we shouldn't force a birth date out of them. We should just ship them back out of our country. I'm sorry but the majority of immigrants come over & abuse our NHS system, our housing system & have a blatent disregard of our laws and country as a whole. So lets not waste our time even making up birthdates or buying torches to shine in their eyes, just kick them back into the lorry they smuggled themselves in & send them back
Bob Peel
says...
3:04pm Thu 29 Jan 09
upper borewood wrote:Don't wriggle UB - genuine question, nothing else.
Tut-tut Bob, don't tar yourself with the same brush as the rest. Explain the origin of the information on Tinsley house, as if you are correct and there are spaces they are generally for operational reasons and never is such a broad generalisation to use and clearly incorrect. I have nothing more to say on the subject as you have shown your lack of knowledge and investigative skills, such a shame for an alledged ex copper.
upper borewood
says...
3:20pm Thu 29 Jan 09
Carly
says...
3:32pm Thu 29 Jan 09
I also understand that human rights that protect us also protect immigrants. But these are the same human rights that allow peadophiles & murderers walk free after what 5 years? And these are the same human rights that allowed an illegal immigrant come into this country, rape an innocent woman so he can be put in prison & learn the English language.
This man would be free in say 3 years & be able to stay in this country, because of these human rights whilst that poor woman has to deal with the fact that not only was she raped, but that our systems have let her down & not bothered about her human rights.
I hope you can understand wwhy I feel this way about immigrants.
Councillor John Oddy
says...
4:01pm Thu 29 Jan 09
An asylum-seeker is someone of any age who has fled his or her home country to find a safe place elsewhere.
Under the 1951 Convention on Refugees, an asylum applicant must be able to demonstrate a well-founded fear of persecution in their country of origin for reasons of political opinion, religion, ethnicity, race/nationality, or membership of a particular social group
Under the rules of that very same Convention any and all refugees must give the relevant authorities all and any information to establish their identity and proof of persecution.
It is not in the interest of bogus Asylum seekers to give correct information, this would establish their true identity and prove them to be illegal immigrants.
A true Asylum seeker would be able, gratefully, to supply their details any that cannot should be treated as illegal.
I hope not
says...
4:48pm Thu 29 Jan 09
Councillor John Oddy
says...
5:16pm Thu 29 Jan 09
If I am wrong I’ll stand corrected but is our NHS not at breaking point, do we get fair treatment when it comes to housing, are our Prisons not near to capacity, do our pensioners get the treatment they deserve and how many of us feel totally safe walking our streets at night?.
I agree we should have a certain amount of immigration, if only to keep the status quo, but we must all realise it has got to the point now where we, as a nation, are all suffering.
The cost to the tax payers on failed Asylum seekers, illegal immigrants and benefit fraud associated with them runs into Millions, so many in fact that the Government themselves cannot put a figure to it.
It is all well and good those left-wing groups molly-coddling the illegal immigrants, they don’t have to pay for them, most of them are on benefits themselves.
ANNE GILES
says...
5:21pm Thu 29 Jan 09
Carly wrote:Hello, Carly - haven't seen you for ages. How are you?? I was just thinking about you yesterday, wondering what had happened to you. Nice to have you back.
Upper Borewood, I understand where you are coming from regarding the actual staff. Of course their hands are tied when it comes to just handing out random birthdates & have to do as they are told. I also understand that human rights that protect us also protect immigrants. But these are the same human rights that allow peadophiles & murderers walk free after what 5 years? And these are the same human rights that allowed an illegal immigrant come into this country, rape an innocent woman so he can be put in prison & learn the English language. This man would be free in say 3 years & be able to stay in this country, because of these human rights whilst that poor woman has to deal with the fact that not only was she raped, but that our systems have let her down & not bothered about her human rights. I hope you can understand wwhy I feel this way about immigrants.
Bob Peel
says...
9:17am Fri 30 Jan 09
Things are over stretched and we certainly shouldn't be putting the worlds' flotsam and jetsam that's washing up, unwanted by all and sundry, on our shores at the front of any queue other than that to leave UK PLC.
Concerning the NHS.
It was originally built on candidates taken from around the Commonwealth.
They trained here taking those skills back to the country of origin.
It was a very good system and worked well. A few married British Nationals and stayed and remained in the NHS system - a real benefit.
Now the NHS is bringing *trained* nurses into this country and some, not all, put a new meaning to the word 'trained.'
We seem to have an influx of nurses whose only expertise is tea and toast on arrival on the ward and whose movement is slower than a crippled snail.
These 'nurses' have no idea of accountability and play the race card frequently when disciplined.
Then there is the buying and selling of houses in an underhand, less that market price, fiddle being run solely for Africans - they buy and sell only from their own ethnic group. Any one else who does that is in real trouble. It's all set up on a website - I can't remember the URL but its on the ARRSE site.
The British people need a fair crack of the whip and it certainly isn't being given; allowing scams such as this only allows more to play at cost to the British taxpayer.
obelix1
says...
11:32am Fri 30 Jan 09
Not today but in some point in the future, what they have done is unforgivable.
Carly
says...
11:52am Fri 30 Jan 09
I'm very well thanks you? Sorry I haven't been on here for a while, started a new job recently so been busy busy busy.
Will hopefully be back on here a bit more now.
Sorry, just having a random conversation amongst all the debate!!!
Councillor John Oddy
says...
11:58am Fri 30 Jan 09
There is not a man or woman reading this that cannot agree with me when I say our Asylum System is failing. There should be no if’s or buts, an Asylum Seeker should be called to Lunar House to be given the result of their application, if they have failed arrangements should have been put in place to take that person directly to the airport, put on a plane and returned to their point of origin. Instead they are given the opportunity to disappear and be swallowed-up by the communities they have become part of.
This soft handed approach is costing the taxpayer millions of pounds per year, money that would be better used looking after the more vulnerable members of our own societies such as the badly done to pensioners.
Carly
says...
1:03pm Fri 30 Jan 09
And again I'll say that many of them come here to abuse our systems whilst the majority of us struggle to get by.
Myself as an example, I am just turned 21, have a decent job & am renting privatley with my partner. It isn't the best of conditions but we get by with enought money for little luxuries like a tv & running my car & ensuring we have enough food & what not. A little bit of help would be appreciated by the council, be it just £100 of our rent but we have been told that we have no chance. Yet a block of luxury flats near me have just been fully furnished so a bunch of immigrants can live there, rent free too!!
Wheres the justice in that? And also, whilst I am struggling to pay medical bills & wait forever on NHS lists as my partner has heart problems, they come over & jump the queue!!
Please explain how that is fair???
Councillor John Oddy
says...
1:57pm Fri 30 Jan 09
Nobody can because it simply isn’t fair.
It’s not that long ago when I spoke out about such issues that the lefties such as Searchlight and the UAF called me “Racist, Fascist and a Nazi”, names I have been called so many times before, yet now, when the predictions are starting to come true they fall silent.
We all know that we are now treated like second class citizens in our own Country, I am all for helping those less fortunate than ourselves but we need to ensure the welfare and wellbeing of our own people first.
We all, all of us, have been let down so very badly by this Labour Government, they are aware of the growing hostility towards them and the bent towards voting BNP, that is why there is this upsurge of anti-BNP rallies and speeches. The Establishment don’t want you to vote BNP because it would uncover all the failings of previous Governments towards the indigenous people. If we don’t help ourselves then who will?.
ag
says...
10:14pm Fri 30 Jan 09
Councillor John Oddy
says...
9:44am Sat 31 Jan 09
You mentioned Schools, here is a copy of the type of email I get sent to me on a regular basis…..
Established 1981
London School of Islamics
An Educational Trust
63 Margery Park Road London E7 9LD
Email: info@londonschoolofi
slamics.org.uk
www.londonschoolofis
lamics.org.uk
Tel/Fax: 0208 555 2733 / 07817 112 667
Racism vs Underachievement
It is absurd to say that institutional racism is dead. It is still alive in the form of Islamophobia. . One of the deepest expressions of institutional racism affecting immigrant communities, and one that has been long documented is the unequal treatment of their children by the education system. They are motivated, but knocked back by their experiences of the school system. They are often treated more harshly and viewed with lower teacher expectation on the basis of teachers’ assumptions about their motivation and ability.
LAs are failing in their duty to combat racism in schools, according to OFSTED, Education system exhibits “aspects of racism”. A quarter of authorities are not doing enough to promote equal educational opportunities. A Brighton University study found that the Britain education system is institutionally racist, with pupils and teachers vulnerable to abuse by peers, teachers and management. I discovered the element of racism in early 70s. National Curriculum does not reflect cultural diversity and minority pupils are being held back by native teachers.
London Borough of Newham was judged by OFSTED as unsatisfactory in tackling racism. There are big issues about racism in schools needed to be tackled but could not understand that Bilingual Muslim pupils need state funded Muslim schools with bilingual Muslim teachers as role models during their developmental periods. It is a crime against humanity to deprive a child of his mother tongue but in the name of integration every thing is fair. Independent schools are also racist in nature. The parents of a Pakistani boy who was racially abused by his classmates and teachers are suing St. Christopher School .
Education report by Birmingham Advisory Service recommends that school lessons should take into account cultural differences in order to improve pupils’ performance. It calls for teaching “the need for mutual respect and understanding”. Minority pupils are underachieving at school because the curriculum is racist. The study found lessons often failed to motivate or interest pupils because curriculum did not provide enough positive role models. The curriculum needs to be more balanced and less Eurocentric. Pupils grow up thinking there is no other playwright than Shakespeare. An ethnicity “Tsar” should be appointed to reform British schooling. Muslim schools performed best overall, although they constitute only a fraction of the country’s 7000 schools. Muslim schools do well because of their Islamic ethos and a focus on traditional discipline and teaching methods. They teach children what is right and what is wrong, because young children need structural guidance. Muslim school is responsible for the development of the whole child. Muslim schools give Muslim children “pride, identity and a sense of culture and languages.
Iftikhar Ahmad
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