Protest against the draconian Immigration Laws

dublin | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Thursday November 06, 2003 12:42 by Dónal O'Líatháin - U.C.D. Anti-Deportation Campaign UCDAntiDeport at bigfoot dot com Box 47 c/o Ucd Student CEntre, Belfield U.C.D.

No Human Being is Illegal

Protest against the draconian Immigration Laws
Wednesday 19th November. 6pm at the Lake in Belfield Campus U.C.D.

In Dublin last year, a Chinese student was murdered simply because of the colour of his skin; also in Co Meath a man was convicted for threatening an asylum-seeker with a loaded shotgun simply because he had formed a relationship with the man's 34-year old daughter; and in Cork, the Fianna Fáil TD Noel O'Flynn made outrageous statements about illegal immigrants being "spongers and freeloaders", intent on screwing the system.

So can the government honestly stand up and say they are fighting racism? Of course not ; not when members of it are actively encouraging it amongst the public, not when they are playing on unfounded fears and making groundless accusations.

Noel O'Flynn must have forgotten the endless parade through the tribunals and the DIRT enquiry of Irish citizens in suits who quite clearly screwed the system and clearly didn't give a damn. Tens of thousands of Irish citizens had bogus offshore accounts and were encouraged to have them by senior people in our financial institutions. Very senior politicians, including some former colleagues of Bertie Aherne and Noel O'Flynn, were up to their necks in corruption and there is no sign yet that any of them will ever be convicted. If there are freeloaders and spongers among us, it is obvious that most of them are our own neighbours and many occupy high places in our society.

However this is more then a matter just to criticise the government over. This is a matter of life and death. The most vulnerable members of our society are being trampled upon while the government, at best, remains silent and at worst, supports it. These people have already suffered immensely and are now being persecuted in ‘the land of a hundred thousand welcomes’ .


So where does this attitude come from?

A wee bit of history. In 1997, Michael McDowell was driving into the city centre when he passed the headquarters of the Department of Justice on Stephen's Green. There was a queue of refugees and asylum-seekers outside the building, about three or four hundred strong. He was so appalled by what he afterwards called "the indignity and contempt with which the Irish State was treating these families" that he called the Sunday Independent and asked them to send a photographer to capture the scene. A fortnight later, this time on a day when rain was lashing down, he witnessed the same disgusting sight. As he recalled, "The same three or four hundred men, women and children queued . . .They were soaked to the skin - even the children and babies.” This scene was also captured on film.

As McDowell put it, it wasn’t the first time his "blood boiled - or froze - in relation the Department of Justice". He had been sickened by "the appalling spectacle of a Dublin-Belfast bus being escorted by squad cars because there was a black man on it who turned out to be a long-term Belfast resident". Also as a private citizen McDowell has warned the public not to trust official denials and spinning of the Dept. Of Justice because "the underlying values of the Department of Justice's immigration policy are never committed to writing".
However it was incredible the speed at which he forgot his earlier feelings, upon appointment as Minister of Justice.

A number of individual cases have been highlighted

Elizabeth Onasanwo, her daughters Christina Onasanwo (18), Bolu (6) and sons Adewole
(18) and Busola (15):
Christina is a first year International Business student in Rathmines and Busola attends C.B.S Westland Row. Elizabeth has suffered a nervous breakdown and has been committed to psychiatric care. She has attempted suicide more then once and her condition has been described as "mentally destroyed".
The reason the family fled Nigeria is due to the practice of female genital mutilation. Elizabeth witnessed her sister being killed due to this practice. Now Christina and her younger sister Bolu face this same barbaric treatment.

When Minister McDowell was asked about the tragic nature of this case he responded that he made "no exceptions".

It is precisely because such cases do arise from time to time that the law allows the Minister for Justice the discretion to overturn a deportation order on compassionate grounds.

Many people thought that upon his appointment to the Dept. of Justice that McDowell would remember his earlier sentiments and treat asylum seekers with more respect and consideration. However he was only settling into to the job when he launched Operation Hyphen. Operation Hyphen was a nation wide raid to ‘crack down’ on illegal immigrants. It was an abysmal failure.

The numbers speak for themselves. 600 Garda involved. Approx. 300 premises raided. 140 people arrested (under suspicion of being illegal immigrants, or failed asylum-seekers.)

The truth is that just 16 of the 140 people arrested were actually evading deportation orders.

One of the innocent people arrested was a 17-year-old pregnant woman. She was consequently held on remand in Limerick prison. When asked about the cost of this operation McDowell responded, in the Dáil, that he was "not in a position to furnish the House with the cost of Operation Hyphen". Later revelations showed the cost to exceed €100,000.

Its time McDowell stopped wasting tax payers’ time and money chasing down innocent people who are just trying to survive, and went after the real criminals. 70 million people world-wide claim Irish ancestry, The Irish people know what its like to be forced to leave their home and family just to get a job. Now that the situation is reversed, we should give the welcome we have so often received. Let these people stay, let them work, let them live free from persecution.
Stop State Racism. Stop us becoming 'Fortress Irieland'. Stop the Deportations

Remember No Human Being is Illegal

Protest against the draconian Immigration Laws
Wednesday 19th November. 6pm at the Lake in Belfield Campus U.C.D.


More Information availible at
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/UCDAntiDeport/

Leaflets Posters at
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/UCDAntiDeport/files/