GMA told: Take up crackdown of undocumented migrants in UK visit
MIGRANTE-International PRESS RELEASE
Garry Martinez
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The global alliance of overseas Filipino workers’ groups, Migrante International, today asked President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to raise the issue of intensified crackdown of undocumented migrants in the United
Kingdom when she visits the country on September 17 and 18.
Garry Martinez, Migrante Chairperson, said UK immigration authorities have stepped up its campaign to rid
the country of undocumented workers by conducting a string of harsh raids and on-the-spot checks on
workplaces and establishments.
He said the UK government had instituted last year a stiffer penalty system that imposes employers a fine of
up to £10,000 for every undocumented migrant they employ. Bosses who hire undocumented migrants from
outside Europe also face possible jail time, he said.
On September 14, the UK Border Agency raided three car washes in Spalding Road, Gosberton and caught
three Iranian failed asylum seekers. The car washers were fined and issued on-the-spot penalty notices for
hiring undocumented workers.
“We are also particularly concerned on the recent cases of Filipino students in UK which recently has been
the target of UK government’s intensified crackdown. We received several complaints that migrant students
were subjected to interrogations by the authorities due to suspicions that they went to UK to work and not to
study,” Martinez added.
In 2007, there are more than 2,000 Filipino students in UK who are enrolled in English, IT, Business,
National Vocational Qualification Courses on Health and Social Care courses. There numbers dramatically
increased due to the existence of agencies that facilitates students visas that charged applicants as much
as Php300,000.
“Unfortunately, the Arroyo administration is not doing anything about the Filipino students being victimized by
these agencies saying they are not OFWs and therefore does not go through the processing at the POEA,”
lamented Martinez.
The group calls on President Arroyo to directly address the plight of more than 200,000 Filipinos in UK
during her visit instead of its alleged plan to invite investors and market OFWs as cheap labor.
“Migrante International urges Gloria Arroyo to take up the issue of the unjust and cruel crackdown on
undocumented workers in the United Kingdom,” Martinez said. “We have about 10,000 undocumented
Filipinos in the UK and almost all of them are now living like rats because of UK’s brutal immigration rules.”
“Instead of spewing lies on the Philippines’ so-called economic resiliency under her administration, Mrs.
Arroyo should work for the regularization of undocumented Filipinos in the UK,” he said.
Arroyo will deliver the keynote address in the “The Emerging Markets Summit” hosted by London-based
news magazine “The Economist” on September 17-18. ###
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