Open Borders - Second Edition The Case Against Immigration Controls

by Hayter, Teresa

• ISBN13: 9780745322445
• ISBN10: 0745322441
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-06-20
• Publisher: PLUTO PRESS (UK)

Summary

In this new edition of Open Borders, Teresa Hayter assesses the impact of the increasing severity of border controls since they were first introduced and makes the controversial case for their abolition. Hayter focuses on postwar immigration controls, especially the use of such controls against the peoples of former European colonies and East Europeans, and their effects on asylum seekers. She examines the recent history of European coordination of border controls and the notion of 'Fortress Europe'. Hayter argues that the existence of controls leads to great suffering and abuse of human rights, and that immigration controls are racist and help legitimate racism. She demonstrates that immigration controls have actually had a limited impact on controlling numbers. To illustrate her arguments, she draws on empirical material, especially from Britain in the 1980s and 1990s, relating in particular to the use of detention, arbitrary decision-making and the denial of benefits. She compares British government policies with policies elsewhere in Europe and calls for the free movement of people and the abolition of border controls. The new edition brings this seminal work up to date with a lengthy preface exploring how the practices of the British government over the past few years has continued the process Hayter outlines in the main text of abusive and irrational border controls and the criminalisation of entire communities. This second edition also updates the bibliography and list of campaigning groups, and ends with a new manifesto for a world without borders, declaring 'no one is illegal!'

Author Biography

Teresa Hayter is an activist and writer who has been involved in a variety of anti-racist campaigns for a number of years. She is the author of Aid as Imperialism (Penguin) and The Creation of World Poverty (Pluto Press).

Table of Contents

Preface to the First Edition	vii
Preface to the Second Edition	ix
Introduction	1	(7)
1 Migration, and migratory myths	8	(13)
World migration	8	(2)
Postwar migration to industrialised countries	10	(3)
Migration to Britain	13	(8)
2 Border controls	21	(43)
Racism	21	(15)
Early history of British immigration controls	36	(7)
Controls on Commonwealth immigration	43	(14)
Fortress Europe	57	(7)
3 Refugees: Tightening the screw	64	(70)
The debasing of refugee rights	64	(12)
Legislation and legal processes in Britain	76	(19)
The criminalisation of refugees	95	(10)
Destitution	105	(7)
Detention	112	(11)
Campsfield immigration detention centre	123	(11)
4 Resistance	134	(15)
Resistance in Britain	134	(8)
The sans-papiers movement	142	(7)
5 Re-open the borders	149	(24)
Immigration controls and human rights	149	(3)
Immigration controls do not work	152	(3)
Immigration and jobs, wages and conditions	155	(6)
Immigration and public expenditure	161	(2)
Immigration controls and racism	163	(3)
Migration and the Third World	166	(5)
Free Movement	171	(2)
Appendix	173	(11)
Bibliography	184	(5)
List of organisations and campaigns	189	(4)
Index	193