Tightening of UK immigration policies could see Irish citizens becoming vulnerable

Having attracted global scrutiny for introducing a self-described “hostile environment” for illegal immigrants, Britain continues to introduce measures aimed at making life as difficult as possible for those who do not have the correct paper work. The intention is to encourage them to leave the UK voluntarily.

The home secretary Priti Patel recently confirmed that the British government plans to implement a US-style Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) system, which will be required for entry into the United Kingdom, with no mention of how such a policy would affect those living on the island of Ireland.

The manner by which UK immigration policies are reflected in Ireland remains one of the least transparent aspects of Irish immigration enforcement

Such a system has the potential to cause significant disruption for the tens of thousands who cross the Border as part of their daily lives, availing of the Common Travel Area (CTA) between Ireland and the UK.

The absence of any reference to how an ETA system would operate on the island of Ireland cannot be chalked up to ignorance or oversight on the part of the British government – politicians in the North have been asking for details since the possibility of such a scheme was reported in the middle of last year.

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How the Irish government will respond these stricter British immigration rules is not clear. The manner by which UK immigration policies are reflected in Ireland remains one of the least transparent aspects of Irish immigration enforcement.

Hundreds of visitors are already refused entry into Ireland every year on the basis that they could theoretically choose to cross the open border into Northern Ireland or beyond into Great Britain via the CTA.

Immigration checks

As the UK tightens its immigration policies, it seems almost inevitable that this ad-hoc relationship between Ireland and the UK will see pressure for further immigration checks on the Irish side of the Border, with Irish officials increasingly acting as an extension of the UK’s “hostile environment”.

There will also be pressure for more checks within the island. The scope of the Common Travel Area (CTA) is often misinterpreted to mean there are no immigration checks at the Ireland-UK Border, however this arrangement only applies to British and Irish citizens.

Immigration checks on cross-Border buses have long been documented, and immigration checks within Northern Ireland have been on the rise, with the scale of immigration checks now higher in Belfast than London. There is a real and pressing concern that these checks will only increase and becoming increasing racially targeted.

The Derry-based North West Migrant Forum – which advises members of black and minority ethnic communities who reside in Northern Ireland – is currently campaigning to address the glaring gap in legal protections for third country nationals, and those who fall outside the remit of the CTA, including EU citizens

The announcement of the ETA scheme was made against a backdrop of a sharp rise in immigration raids in the UK which saw EU citizens being forcibly detained and deported because they were not covered by the EU settlement scheme negotiated as part of the UK’s departure from the EU.

Migrant communities encourage multi-culturalism and provide the vital enrichment necessary for a healthy, properly functioning society

Enrolment in the scheme is mandatory for all EU citizens wishing to remain in the UK post Brexit, with the exception of Irish citizens who can choose whether or not to apply.

Figures show that many Irish citizens have instead opted to rely on their CTA right to live and work in the UK, with less than 10,000 Irish applications to the EU Settlement Scheme up to December 2020

Refused entry

However, with an increasing number of European citizens – even those with legal status under the EU Settlement Scheme – being refused entry to the UK, ambiguity around the legal status of Irish citizens in the UK could see them becoming vulnerable to hostile immigration practices.

The UK is not alone in its increasingly hostile approach to immigration. According to Gallup’s Migrant Acceptance Index, the rise of anti-immigrant sentiment has been accelerating on a global scale. It is epitomised by Donald Trump’s presidency of the United States and the scare-mongering surrounding Brexit, but also evidenced in countries such as Spain and Denmark.

Ireland in-turn has its own “patriots”, whose distorted nationalism provides a thin veneer for their far-right, racist agendas. Much of the rhetoric echoing throughout these movements – along with anti-migrant policies in general – harken back to a socially conservative era which, which has little place in a time of mass-globalisation.

The economic benefits of immigration remain evident today, but more than that, migrant communities encourage multi-culturalism and provide the vital enrichment necessary for a healthy, properly functioning society, broadening citizens’ views as well as their understanding of the world we live in.