Posted on 12/16/2007 7:46:19 PM PST by Stoat
Davis ... blasted the bungs
FAILED asylum seekers have been paid £36million in “bribes” to leave Britain, it was revealed yesterday.
More than 23,000 have won windfalls of up to £4,000, with costs, to set up firms in their homeland.
But many are feared to be milking the repatriation scheme.
About 300 have been caught trying to RETURN to Britain after launching their firms. Other foreigners here illegally apply for asylum simply to cash in.
A £4,000 handout — ten years’ wages in Afghanistan — can buy thousands luxury back home. Tories last night blamed the problem on Labour’s failure to secure Britain’s borders.
Shadow home secretary David Davis said: “Given their inability to deport illegal immigrants they have had to resort to bribing them to leave taxpayers picking up the bill.”
Firms set up with the bungs include a beauty salon in Zimbabwe.
The Government pays two-thirds of the bill and the EU pays the rest.
The scheme is open to all failed asylum seekers, refugees with leave to remain and those with claims pending.
The Home Office insists the Voluntary Assisted Return and Reintegration Programme — set up in 1999 — is cost effective. Forcibly returning a failed asylum seeker costs £11,000.
An undercover reporter, posing as an asylum seeker, was promised a package worth £4,000 to return to India.
He admitted he dealt drugs and worked illegally here but he was offered an air ticket, £1,000 business start-up grant and other inducements. His “plan” was a travel agency to help others come to Britain.
MINISTERS will this week announce tougher UK entry rules for non-EU visitors. Families who sponsor visas for overseas relatives may have to put up a £1,000 cash bond, which would be forfeited if the visitor overstays.
NEXT time your eyes water at your tax bill, comfort yourself that it’s for a good cause.
Some £36million, for instance, has helped set up failed asylum seekers in business back in their homeland.
They get a £4,000 bung if they go home. We even pay their air fare.
The Government says it’s cheaper than deporting them. Except many spend the money, then come back.
One investigative reporter met three people who only applied for asylum to trouser the handout.
This absurd situation only exists because we have floodgates instead of borders and because the Government is inept at deporting illegals.
International migration chiefs say the payouts are a “win, win”, both for asylum seekers and taxpayers.
Funny. We don’t hear taxpayers cheering.
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Translation Assistance:
A dictionary of slang - B - Slang and colloquialisms of the UK.
| bung | Verb. To give or throw. E.g."Go on, bung her an extra tenner for trying." Noun. A bribe. |
The Best of British - The American's guide to speaking British...
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UK handout funds an ostrich farm in Iran the Daily Mail
Golden eggs: Subsidised ostrich
Failed asylum seekers have been handed £36million to open businesses, including a beauty salon, a vineyard and even an ostrich farm, back in their homelands.
More than 23,000 have taken advantage of generous handouts worth up to £4,000 each.
The revelation reignited a row over Labour's controversial policy of "bribing" bogus refugees to leave the country.
Critics said the Government had created a climate where a false claimant could not lose.
They also warned it could encourage more people to head to Britain to lodge a claim.
Details emerged for the first time of how the failed asylum seekers - who could have been forcibly deported - are spending their support package.
One man, a 35-year-old Iranian, opened an ostrich farm after spending four years in the UK.
The vineyard, near Tirana, was opened by an Albanian man who produces organic grapes and raki, a local spirit.
The beauty salon in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare was opened by a woman who went home last year after six years in Britain.
Other businesses that have benefited include a fishing firm in Angola, a ferry in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a dress shop in Sudan, a car dealership in Kenya, a laundry in Afghanistan, a shoe shop in China, a hotel in Nepal, a garment factory in Sri Lanka, an internet cafe in Ecuador and a market stall in Jamaica.
The payouts are worth up to £1,000 in cash at the airport, followed by £3,000 in support to open a business.
Other perks available, provided the £4,000 is not exceeded, include private schooling for the failed asylum seeker's children.
The Home Office pays around twothirds of the bill, with the remainder coming from the EU - itself funded by the taxpayer.
Shadow home secretary David Davis said: "The price of the Government's failure to secure our borders is all too clear.
"Given their inability to deport illegal immigrants, they have had to resort to bribing them - with the taxpayer picking up the bill."
Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migrationwatch UK, said failed asylum seekers were being given a "no loss" option.
He added: "Either they succeed with their claim and are given a meal ticket for life, or they fail and return home much the wealthier. The sum of £4,000 is a fortune in most source countries."
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "Giving failed asylum seekers business grants smacks of rewarding criminality and will act as a honey trap for even more illegal migrants".
The Voluntary Assisted Return Programme has cost £36million since its launch in 1999. The budget for next year is £22million.
The Home Office says the policy is cheaper than forcibly deporting failed refugees - a process which costs £11,000 each.
But opponents say it is evidence of desperation in the Government's attempt to clear a growing backlog.
Throughout 2006, officials managed to deport only 18,280 failed asylum seekers, while 20,700 were added to the list awaiting deportation.
The Treasury has instructed the Home Office to significantly increase the number of bogus refugees dealt with each year.
Sex slaves smuggled into Britain are to share millions in compensation for their 'pain and trauma'.
The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority has agreed to hand over £140,000 to the first four cases to come before it.
The women had suffered a "sustained period of sexual abuse" after being trafficked into the UK by a syndicate of British criminals.
A further 10,000 are estimated to be eligible under a new interpretation of guidelines by the CICA, a Government agency.
Of the first four, one girl was brought into the UK five years ago at the age of 13.
Another was trafficked in 2003 when she was 16.
The decision will re-open controversy over the way victims of sex trafficking should be treated.
Ministers recognise the danger that offering them help - including compensation - could encourage illegal immigration.
How stupid can you get?
Erm, don't ask. . . .
Based on current off peak airfare from my nearest airport in the US, I could net about 3700 pounds each trip. If Catherine Zeta Jones made me her sex slave I might net much more.
C-A-T-A-P-U-L-T-S
CATAPULTS!!!!! Put them in catapults and fire them across the channel.
Let the French deal witht them!
From the Sun article:
A £4,000 handout — ten years’ wages in Afghanistan
And then of course there's the scenario where the "asylum seeker" gets his wheelbarrow full of money, flies back home, spends it all on "whatever" and then reapplies for asylum, claiming that his business failed and he is back where he started and needs another chance, courtesy of the British Taxpayer.
"sigh"
A nice plan but you'll have to wait until I'm through with her....I don't share :-)
“I don’t share :-)”
How did you get rid of that crusty old hollywood guy I’ve seen her with lately?:)
Let the French deal witht them!
Hey, I could really use the money, can I apply for asylum in the UK and then get a grant to return home? OK, it might be hard to make the case that I am overly persecuted in the USA, but I HAVE known some terribly deranged PC leftists in my time..... anyway, I don’t really WANT asylum, I just want to apply for it so I can get the money!
this is so ridiculous. why pay them to get out? but i have to admit that my country does the same. if you are finally denied asyl (takes sometimes years because of our laws) and you leave voluntary you will get some money. at least you don´t get that much like in britain. the most stupid fact is that you do get some money too even when the police has to expell you by force as soon as you arrive in your home country.
They will all be back for more as soon as the first installment payment runs out.
at least in austria you will be arrested for that. if you are expelled from this country this includes a law that you are denied to visit austria any more in your lifetime. you would brake a law and police would arrest you.
this reminds me about an interesting story we had here some years ago. a muslim asylum seeker was arrested for burglary and setenced to 4 years prision. after the time in prision such people are normaly deported back to their home country instantly because they are not allowed to enter austria any more. but his home country denied him living status. they said they do not take back criminals. so he did have a big problem. he was not allowed to live in our country because of this law (this means if you don´t leave (well he was not able) you will be arrested and have to stay in prision untill you can be expelled). so austria did ask other countries if they will take him. he had to spend 2 more years in prision bevore a country was found which granted him living status. luck for him if no one had been found he would still be in prision. maybe for ever.
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