BritCits

'Migration woes in the UK'.

http://crookedtimber.org/2013/08/02/migration-woes-in-the-uk/ 

'At a time when the debate on immigration in the US seems to be going in a more liberal direction, things in the UK have become far far worse. One manifestation of this was a co-ordinated series of over 200 raids yesterday by the UK Home Office, which detained more than 100 people suspected of immigration and visa offences. Many of the raids took place in and around tube and rail stations in areas of London with high non-white populations and, according to eyewitnesses, involved the selection and harassment for “papers! papers!” of people who – at least in the view of the enforcement heavies – looked foreign...

'...The political background to this has two aspects. The first is the Tory party’s obsessive focus on the “net migration” figures. Since there is so much about immigration that the Tories cannot control, they have tried to reduce the flows of people that they can. Students, workers from outside the EU and the partners of UK citizens who want to reside in the UK have been particular targets. This has led to many heartbreaking stories of divided families, often catalogued by the excellent BritCits blog [see also Migrants’ Rights Network’s ongoing campaign]. The second aspect is that the Tories face electoral competition on their right from the the UK Independence Party.'

A very good piece bringing many threads together - divided families, racist vans, bonds for visitors, students, the electoral background, and so on. (MRN and BritCits both get shout-outs, woohoo).
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'A Russian friend of mine may be in a dangerous situation in Washington, DC.' - old but worth reading for the perspective on human trafficking - http://ask.metafilter.com/154334/Help-me-help-my-friend-in-DC