ID cards revisited
21 Oct 2003
Horror! Disaster! Chinese people found working in Kings Lynn! We need ID cards to stop this sort of thing from happening again! Or something.
Is this how people in positions of power really think? Erm, yes, It seems this is how they think.
But Mrs Hughes urged her to "get real". "If you are seriously suggesting that every person that we apprehend could be detained... you are going to need a very, very large expansion, at great expense, of the detention estate."
But surely if they were illegal immigrants then they should be deported? I mean, regardless of one's opinions of the current immigration laws, it is usual for illegal immigrants to be deported. That is, after all, what "illegal immigrant" means: someone who is in the coutry unlawfully. Therefore remove them from the country, in this case back to China. But the people found in Kings Lynn appear to have been released. Oh dear.
I know I'm preaching to the converted here, but I just want to vent steam. The whole "ID cards will stop (or at least reduce) illegal working" thing gets my goat. Currently employing illegal workers are three broad categories of employer: the Good Employer, the Bad Legal Employer and the Bad Illegal Employer.
- Good Employers employ the person in good faith, believing them to be
eligible to work. Being Good Employers they deduct NI and tax from the
person's pay. The worker is technically illegal but is functioning as a
contributing member of society, paying their own way while doing useful
work. I see nothing wrong with this, however technically "illegal" it may
be.
- Bad Legal Employers know fine well the person is not supposed to work. They
probably pay cash in hand, the pay and conditions are probably dreadful, but
the work itself is legal. This probably includes stuff like building site or
farm labouring work.
- Bad Illegal Employers are as per Bad Legal Employers except the work itself
is illegal (prostitution being the obvious example).
Shall we think how each of these 3 employer types is likely to react to the introduction of an ID card and possible other tightening of proving an employee's right-to-work?
- Good Legal Employers will ask to see an ID card before taking on a worker.
But the illegal workers they currently employ already have bank accounts, NI
numbers and the like so would likely have little difficulty getting a
genuine card issued fraudulently or getting a passable forgery. Any illegal
immigrant unable to pass themselves off as entitled to work due to tightened
controls will be forced to find work with a Bad Legal Employer who doesn't
ask as many questions.
- Bad Legal Employers can already be punished under health & safety, tax
avoidance etc laws. To avoid further punishment for knowingly employing
illegal immigrants they will insist that every one of their workers have a
reasonable quality ID card forgery so they can plead that they have seen a
card but weren't to know it wasn't genuine. Note that this means card
forgers are not only satisfying the demand of skint illegal workers, but
also that of quite wealthy businessmen with money to invest in card forgery
skill and equipment. Any illegal immigrant without a forged card would be
forced to either starve, beg, or seek work with the Bad Illegal Employer
because...
- ...Bad Illegal Employers couldn't care less about the cards. Their business
is illegal anyway and the penalties for illegal working will be trivial
compared to those for running the neighbourhood crack den.
To summarise:
Illegal immigrants currently getting work with Good Legal Employers will be unaffected or pushed to Bad Legal Employers (which would be a bad thing).
Illegal immigrants currently getting work with Bad Legal Employers will be unaffected or pushed to Bad Illegal Employers (which would be a bad thing).
Bad Legal Employers will provide startup capital for good quality card forgery efforts even if more nefariously villainous types don't.
"Aha!" Says Mr Blunkett, "But you're forgetting that people will be deterred from coming to the country in search of work in the first place, knowing that tighter controls are in place. Also, those coming in search of benefits will be deterrred. So there."
Very well, Mr Blunkett, let me address those issues.
People prepared to rack up huge debt or pay some big fraction of their life's savings to a smuggler and undertake a hazardous journey to get here are not the sort of people who are easily deterred. They possess great tenacity and willingess to run risks in hope of self-betterment (which are good characteristics, and likely to be valuable if harnessed into the legal workforce, hint hint). They're not going to be put off by the extra £50 needed for a forged card good enough to satify a Bad Legal Employer.
And just don't get me started on the whole benefits thing. Just don't, or I'll rant like a snob about the need for general reform and may even mention workshy pikeys sprouting endless thieving children. Don't get me wrong, I have no objection to giving people a helping hand when they're down. Show me the fund and I'll chip in. But paying workshy pikeys to drink lager and sprout endless thieving children? No.
And so endeth today's sermon.
<dismounts from hobby horse>