Friday, June 15, 2007 – Part 2

Medway Messenger

Home Truths: Permit them to stay

I AM both shocked and appalled at the unfortunate, yet wholly avoidable, plight of not one, but two people in Kent who have this week been targeted by a Home Office desperate for results.

Both 19-year-old Afghanistan-born Husien Panahi and 50-year-old Barbados-born Hartley Alleyne from Canterbury regard Britain, rather then their respective native countries, as their home and have acted selflessly during their time as citizens of this country.

Husien Panahi has lived in this country for just four years, but does not regard his native Afghanistan as his home. Instead, he has made his own way through part-time jobs, and has given back to the community through charitable activities that bring shame to many who were born here.

All he asked for in return was to finish his education – something the Government says it supports for all students worldwide, but which Husien would clearly not receive in a refugee camp in Kabul.

From where I stand, the immigration situation in this country is a mess. In the same week that immigration minister Liam Byrne spoke of “earned citizenship”, two people who have certainly earned theirs are facing deportation because they tried to remain here legally while people who have entered illegally are permitted to stay with little effort from the authorities to deport them.

The Home Office is desperate for results and I think that it is disgusting that two deserving citizens are punished because it is easier than trying to hunt down and deport those who have no right to be here in the first place.

Alan Collins
Goudhurst Road
Gillingham