Immigration news

An investigation conducted by VICE World News has revealed that British MPs have used a UK immigration hotline to report violations 151 times during the coronavirus pandemic. The investigation has raised questions over whether MPs are reporting their own constituents. VICE World News uncovered the data from a freedom of information request.  

The figures have sparked fears that MPs are sharing information about their constituents who have sought help over their UK immigration status.

The Biden administration has announced that it won’t be making routine immigration enforcement arrests at COVID-19 vaccination sites. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that vaccination sites will be treated as ‘sensitive locations’, enabling undocumented migrants to receive the jab.  

The DHS said that ‘only under extraordinary circumstances would an arrest be made for US immigration violations.’ The announcement further demonstrates President Joe Biden’s pledge to taker a softer approach toward illegal immigration.

BBC Radio 2 host, Jeremy Vine, launched a scathing attack on the EU after Brussels refused to renegotiate terms over a reciprocal visa between the UK and EU for touring musicians. During an interview on Channel 5, Vine said: “It’s their loss. The UK has the best music in the world.”

 

Vine expressed his dismay at how the bloc could agree a deal with the UK that would see bands such as The Vamps or The Rolling Stones unable to play live on the continent. Mr Vine said: “There is no way of me saying this without sounding a bit nationalistic here but the fact is we have the best music in the world.”

The Home Office officially opened the new UK BNO visa route on 31 January, exclusively for Hong Kong nationals. Following controversial security laws imposed on the Special Administrative Region in 2020 by China, the UK government opened the BNO visa scheme to provide some three million Hong Kong nationals with a pathway to UK citizenship.

 

President Biden has paused construction on his predecessor’s anti-immigrant border wall for two months. The wall, constructed along the US border with Mexico, was a pillar of Donald Trump’s controversial US immigration policies. However, critics of the wall have described it as a waste of US taxpayer money and a symbol of xenophobia.  

The anti-immigrant structure is reported to have cost in the billions, costing an estimated $20 million per mile. 

According to a new survey by Ipsos Mori, the majority of the British public does not favour reduced UK immigration. The poll revealed that less than 50% of the UK public wants to see immigration levels reduced.