From The Press Association
An investigation has been launched after two immigration staff were revealed to be members of the British National Party (BNP), the UK Border Agency confirmed.
The two staff worked in an immigration removal centre until a list of BNP members appeared on the internet in November, according to a UK Border Agency spokesman.
After the list was made public, one resigned and another was suspended, he said.
"There is no place for racism in the immigration system," said the spokesman.
"We ask anyone carrying out duties on our behalf to sign a declaration stating they are not a member of the BNP, the National Front or Combat 18."
The Government agency is investigating how the two staff - who were employed on behalf of the Home Office by a private contractor - managed to slip through the net.
A probe was launched following the resignation in November, the spokesman added.
Wednesday
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Posted to the web: 13/01/2009 15:39:21
ReplyDeleteUP TO 400 Zimbabweans who fled the political and economic crisis in their country protested outside Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Downing Street office Tuesday demanding the right to work in Britain.
The protestors, who held placards saying "Mr Brown: allow Zimbabweans to work and pay taxes" and "Zimbabwean: deskilled, destitute", cheered after lawmakers handed the resumes of 400 skilled Zimbabweans to Brown's office.
Britain does not currently deport Zimbabweans to their homeland but they are not allowed to work here.
Those who attended the peaceful protest, accompanied by singing and drumming, said they were forced to leave Zimbabwe because of their opposition to President Robert Mugabe, who has ruled the southern African country for nearly three decades, and were desperate to use their skills.
"A person only lives once, and if you live and die without any prosperity, it's like you're living in hell," said Conwell Munyaradzi, 40, who was a credit controller for an international courier company before leaving Zimbabwe seven years ago. "Our skills are being wasted away."
Adolf Kamusoko, who ran his own transport company in Zimbabwe, added: "I'm 35 years old and I've been here since I was about 27 so I have wasted seven years. If I had been working for seven years, I'd be somewhere right now."
Kamusoko said he was denied asylum in 2002 and is appealing against the ruling.
Britain, the former colonial power, does not offer a blanket right of asylum to Zimbabweans fleeing their troubled homeland but says it will protect those who have genuine claims.
A spokesman for the UK Border Agency said: "It's crucial we don't let people abuse the system and take advantage of this ongoing humanitarian crisis by pretending to be Zimbabwean or by making false asylum claims."
The protest was supported by several lawmakers including Labour's Kate Hoey, chair of parliament's all-party group on Zimbabwe.
Another, Liberal Democrat Simon Hughes, told the gathering: "You should be allowed (to work), you're talented people... many of us will keep up the struggle in parliament."
Brown, who has called the situation in Zimbabwe "a tragedy", said in July last year that the government was looking to see what could be done to support Zimbabweans in this situation.
The demonstrators urged Brown to "keep his word". - Staff Reporter/AFP