Thai Asylum Seekers

[eric1000]

MONDAY 10/05/2004 16:38:28

Thai nationals arrested in Derry

Six people from Thailand have been arrested in Londonderry by immigration service officers investigating foreign nationals working illegally in Northern Ireland.

Five of the six face are being expelled from the UK.

The arrests were made on Friday evening when immigration service officials, assisted by the PSNI, raided a Thai take-away restaurant on the Culmore Road.

Six people were arrested at the scene, including one of the proprietors of the business, although she was soon released.

The five others - three men and two women - were detained and questioned about their right to remain and work within the UK.

The Thai take-away only opened a few weeks ago.

For several years, its owners have been operating a Thai restaurant in Letterkenny in County Donegal.

It`s understood they and their staff have the necessary paperwork to allow them to work in the republic.

However, their new venture in Derry fell foul of United Kingdom immigration law.

The three men have been kept at Maghaberry Prison and are believed to be awaiting deportation.

The two remaining women have been released on bail, but have been ordered to leave the UK within the next five days.

The take-away`s owners meanwhile are understood to have vowed to re-open as soon as possible.

Legal representatives for the five potential deportees are considering a legal challenge to their expulsion.

[GuestHouse]

Presumably they are not held in anything like Bangkok's IDC.

[maerim]

if we are going to have asylum seekers in the U.K legal or otherwise I personally would have Thai's as opposed to the hard working ,good looking Albanians that are everywhere.

[Up2U]

These people were legally working in another EU country (Eire) and yet are being deported from NI? Where to? Eire?

This is stupidity - they should challenge this all the way (if they have the financial support).

Let the Immigration people chase the illigal immigrants to the EU - which these people obvioussly are not.

[taxexile]

they should challenge this all the way (if they have the financial support).

they dont need financial support, the legal costs of all appeals, (and appeals against appeals) against asylum are met by the long suffering impoverished british taxpayer.

those that have been ordered to leave within 5 days can just disappear into the system. no need to leave at all.

i knew a thai working illegally in london some years back, she was caught when the restaurant was raided by immigration after the male falang partner had a dispute with the female thai partner... sound familiar ???

3 waitresses and a cook had their passports impounded and after the court hearing were told they would be deported and blacklisted. on the day of deportation they were collected from their homes by mini-cab, taken to heathrow and put on a british airways flight back to bangkok,taxpayers expense.

two months later the waitress was back on a new passport in another name.

she now owns property in the uk and is the manageress of a very successful thai restaurant.

these days thai reataurants can get work permits for cooks quite easily as thai cooking is deemed to be beyond the capabilities of all but the thais.

[bmw]

When deported the deportee is returned to there Country Of Origin,in this case LOS.

[medicinebox]

Strange, when reading that. I felt like "Oh well no big deal". "This is the UK. What do you expect."?

Took the rest out, because I missed something...too early...

[dr_Pat_Pong]

they should challenge this all the way (if they have the financial support).

they dont need financial support, the legal costs of all appeals, (and appeals against appeals) against asylum are met by the long suffering impoverished british taxpayer.

those that have been ordered to leave within 5 days can just disappear into the system. no need to leave at all.

i knew a thai working illegally in london some years back, she was caught when the restaurant was raided by immigration after the male falang partner had a dispute with the female thai partner... sound familiar ???

3 waitresses and a cook had their passports impounded and after the court hearing were told they would be deported and blacklisted. on the day of deportation they were collected from their homes by mini-cab, taken to heathrow and put on a british airways flight back to bangkok,taxpayers expense.

two months later the waitress was back on a new passport in another name.

she now owns property in the uk and is the manageress of a very successful thai restaurant.

these days thai reataurants can get work permits for cooks quite easily as thai cooking is deemed to be beyond the capabilities of all but the thais.

It happens like that all the time.

[NedKelly]

Some might wish it would happen here.........but as we all know.....not much chance of that !!

[maerim]

Even if they are deported which is very unlikely in the foreseeable future, they will be back.

The U.K. government is fully aware of the extent of the illegal immigrants there.

A couple of months ago 20 odd chinese were drowned in Morcambe bay a notorious spot where there are quicksands and tides that come in faster than a person can run.

These illegal immigrants were collecting cockles for export to Spain, estimates of their earnings ranged from several hundred pounds a day to less than five pounds a day.

This had been going on for some time nobody bothered, the authorities turned a blind eye for the same reason they turn a blind eye to the food processing industry.

The reason in two words is "cheap labour" the same week two minibuses crashed in Lincoln killing a couple of people from eastern europe, they were on their way to work in a meat plant.

They are employed by gang masters who get them into the country and supply accomodation as well as work. These people work for less than the minimum wage in the U.K. I am sure the government loves this lot being there as they undercut all known regulations and never complain.

On the odd chance of any of them getting the boot out of the U.K. they are back within weeks new name, new job.

A couple of years ago a Dutch lorry driver opened up the doors on his trailer to let out 58 Chinese illegal immigrants unfortunately ( for them anyway) the air vent got closed and they suffocated to death. If a driver is found with an illegal he is fined 2000 pounds per immigrant found.

This does not stop the flow of people to the U.K.

Perhaps the U.K. government could take a leaf out of Thailands book on how to deal with immigration?