The TGWU and Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants' initiative for a rolling regularisation
D.Ogramme for undocumented workers and asylum sekers who have been refused protection offers the best hope of assembling the forces needed to wage a successful fight against ine government's aclerminanon to use racısın as one of the instruments to keep pushing through its goals in the war on terorism.
The left needs to make every effort to strengthen this initiative and help trade unionists and migrants build up the pressure needed to enecuvely combat government attacks on Iliglalls, wages and civil liberties.
Critics have observed that such a programme would help
but would some ligtanls, inevitably allow the government to select and deport those it chose not to regularise and who would otherwise try to stav underground.
This is true, but the government is already deporting about 15,000 people per year under a regime of rapidly increasing lawlessness and brutality. Immigration authorities routinely inform the recelving state authorities about a person's removal from Britain to make sure they are in a position to deal with the rebellious and disaffected as thev are sent back from Britain.
Furthermore, the statements issuea by lne home Office about their "reform" programme make it crvstal clear that their intention is to put more resources into entorcemen.
So the key thing for those in Britain who want to fight this trend and get as many concessions as possible from the Home Office is to find a suitable axis around which to build a movement of resistance that can unite undocumented workers, who have been refused protection, their supporters, and trade union members who
Whatever tactic we
adopt, the government will hunt
down as many migrants as possible
and continue to
frighten, brutalise
and deport them oppose both racism and the competitive LacC the bottom which tends to set worker against worker all over Ine worlo.
Neither an abstract call for open borders made only by campaigners around detention and deportation can do this, since these voices cannot reach or convince a wide enough audience to substantially affect the overall situation.
But the TGWU / JCWI initiative gives us an opportunity to persuade the far left, trade unionists, and the increasing numbers of other people who are horrified by the trends towards a strong survelllance state to form an alliance with undocumented workers and rejected asylum sekers that has the potential to force the government to relcal.
Such an alliance would help the migrants to fight for their right to stay here and survive in relative safety, and would also help turn the tide of authoritarianism, racism, privatisation, overwork and IS IMPRISONMEN