ja*

Yesterday, The Mail reveals in chilling detail the vulnerability of a nation
that seems to have given up even trying to protect itself. Having already
lost control of our own borders in an asylum crisis going from bad to worse,
Britain is now exposed as wide open to any terrorist, gangster, health
'tourist' or welfare fraudster.


By Sue Reid
Special Investigative Editor

I went to a cafe in central London to meet a stranger

I handed over £1,300 and a mere 48 hours to assume the new identity of
'Odette Hinault' complete with fake EU passport, driving licence and French
ID card, together with a genuine National Insurance number.

Within a day of becoming 'Miss Hinault' she had opened a bank account,
registered with a GP, obtained a phone number and had claim forms for
housing allowances and council tax benefits.

There was nothing to stop her plugging into an entire system of state
handouts that would have more than repaid her £1,300 outlay within weeks.

And as our report makes clear, this transaction was nothing out of the
ordinary. A whole industry providing forged do***ents with no questions
asked has grown up in our cities, organised by people smugglers, ***
traffickers, drug runners and other traders of human misery. How extensive
this racket is can only be guessed at, but the likely scale was revealed
last week, when a Belgium judge jailed an Albanian gangster for smuggling
12,000 illegal immigrants into Britain. Does anyone imagine he is the only
grubby little crook to make a mockery of our border controls?.

Here is the hidden scandal that makes the asylum crisis even more worrying.
Until now, attention has understandably focused on the ever-increasing
numbers openly seeking refugee status - often on the flimsiest of grounds -
at a rate which according to the UN has made Britain the world's favourite
asylum destination.

And the reason, of course, is that this country remains a ludicrously soft
touch. Despite all the tough rhetoric from Ministers, only about 10 percent
of asylum seekers are ever sent home, even when their claims are wholly
unfounded. Even if we leave aside the uncounted and uncountable illegals who
are smuggled in - probably to obtain fake do***ents as 'Miss Hinault' did -
the pressures are becoming more severe.

Today for example, we report a dramatic increase in hetero***ual HIV, due to
immigration from Africa. Tuberculosis in parts of London is worse than in
Azerbaijan, again largely because of immigration. And for the same reason
hepatitis B is on the increase.

It speaks volumes for the feebleness and moral cowardice of this Government
that it still hasn't introduced compulsory health screening, a policy
adopted in one form or another by 80 other countries. But then, doesn't the
case of 'Miss Hinault' suggest that official feebleness is now endemic?.

Less than a year ago, Home secretary David Blunkett spoke of Eastern
European gangs who are 'more organised than we are' and flooding our cities
with guns and drugs.

At the same time, and all-party Lords Committee warned that illegal
immigration was out of control and said Britain would not halt it without a
radical rethink of asylum policy. Strong words, indeed. But nine months on
there is no sign of change.

Foreign gangsters continue to thrive. Illegal immigrants seem to work
untroubled in the black economy, An undercover journalist can buy fake
do***ents with no difficulty at all. Our borders are as porous as ever.

blue

Yes, we want them to go to France.

wolf

Where I think we lost it was when an increasing number of people in this
country started to earn their living perversely from the asylum industry -
first the lawyers, then the guest house owners, the charities and pressure
groups, then the civil service departments charged with administering
matters, then local government officers, and so on.We now have a lot of
people who are economically, rather than politically, advocates for
immigration. Then the BBC has employed so many there is an endless stream of
TV programmes every night extolling multiculturalism - they are totally
obsessed by it.
I see no prospect of a way back.


Sincerely,
Wolf

aramis gunton

In message <LcZ0b.183$ce2.60@newsfep3-gui.server.ntli.net>, Wolf
<a.wolf@ntlworld.com> writes


Only extremes of violence.

--
Aramis Gunton

supplementarywotan

[big snip]


Strategic incompetence ?


Supplementarywotan

nick.cooper

That article was complete bollocks. Most of the "entitlements" were
the result of her pretending to be a EU citizen, but how long could
she actually have continued the pretence of being French? Typical
whinging-by-numbers 'Daily Mail' bullshit.

steve glynn

And, had she wished to, she could equally easily have bought herself an
illegal firearm, some heroin, a stolen credit card, possibly some forged
American Express travellers cheques, and, by attending her local car boot
sale, some smuggled ciggies and a knocked-off CD player.

I'm sure Ms Reid would never do such a thing, but anyone who knows any
journalists will be aware that fiddled expenses claims are not exactly
unheard of in that profession ('drinks in pub with informant: no receipt').
With a bit of help from some internet sites and a visit to a few local
stores I could make a pretty sizeable bomb, stick it in a car that I've just
stolen, and blow up my local town hall. Doesn't mean I make a habit of so
doing..

Apart from drawing attention to the remarkable fact that crime, particularly
fraud, takes place, what is the woman on about?

Steve

thee_process23

Look around you: war here, war there, war everywhere! Violence is how
things get done. Always was, always will be - the eternal justice.

thee_process23

Not taking action because it is illegal is no excuse. It didn't stop
bush's wars. All wars are illegal. In another view prison is illegal.
My ancestors never resorted to such savagery. Bannishings, yes, but
never the cage.

richard.gregory_

Anyone can obtain "claim forms" for anything you like. That's why they are
called "claim forms". Whats that quote about someone boasting that they can
call for devils from hell?

Ah, says the questioner, but will they come?