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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/01/stripping-criminals-uk-citizenship-racisrt-sex-abusers-terrorists-two-classes-citizens
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| Stripping criminals of their UK passports – even terrorists and sex abusers – is dangerous | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Slowly but surely, two classes of citizenship are being created: one, senior and inalienable, extended to British citizens of no foreign extraction; and the other subordinated, contingent and mutable, for those foreign born or of foreign origin. | Slowly but surely, two classes of citizenship are being created: one, senior and inalienable, extended to British citizens of no foreign extraction; and the other subordinated, contingent and mutable, for those foreign born or of foreign origin. |
| This week, it has emerged that the home secretary is planning to considerably increase her department’s use of legal powers that allow serious criminals with dual nationality to have their British citizenship withdrawn, effectively conferring citizenship only when it is “conducive to the public good” (and removing it when it is not). In this case, some Asian-born sex abusers will be stripped of their UK citizenship and deported at the end of their sentences. The implications are very troubling, and suggest that the rights of British citizenship are not absolute. | This week, it has emerged that the home secretary is planning to considerably increase her department’s use of legal powers that allow serious criminals with dual nationality to have their British citizenship withdrawn, effectively conferring citizenship only when it is “conducive to the public good” (and removing it when it is not). In this case, some Asian-born sex abusers will be stripped of their UK citizenship and deported at the end of their sentences. The implications are very troubling, and suggest that the rights of British citizenship are not absolute. |
| Related: Rochdale child sex gang ringleader appeals against deportation | Related: Rochdale child sex gang ringleader appeals against deportation |
| Yes, citizenship is something that has to be earned, and there are benchmarks for that, but to tie it to origin in criminal cases has problematic racist implications. Yes, one could counter argue that if the perpetrators were white of dual nationality then the same would apply, but that is rarely the case, since most immigrants to the UK, at least in the past few decades, have been from outside the EU. Not that the intent is racist, but that is the result. Since 2000, an estimated 37 people have had their British citizenship revoked. Their nationalities include Russian, Somali, Yemeni, Australian, Pakistani, Afghan, Albanian, Egyptian, Lebanese, Sudanese, Vietnamese, Iranian, Iraqi and Nigerian; some have held British passports from birth. | Yes, citizenship is something that has to be earned, and there are benchmarks for that, but to tie it to origin in criminal cases has problematic racist implications. Yes, one could counter argue that if the perpetrators were white of dual nationality then the same would apply, but that is rarely the case, since most immigrants to the UK, at least in the past few decades, have been from outside the EU. Not that the intent is racist, but that is the result. Since 2000, an estimated 37 people have had their British citizenship revoked. Their nationalities include Russian, Somali, Yemeni, Australian, Pakistani, Afghan, Albanian, Egyptian, Lebanese, Sudanese, Vietnamese, Iranian, Iraqi and Nigerian; some have held British passports from birth. |
| The majority of these are not white. That is not because the majority of serious crimes in the UK are committed by brown or black people of foreign origin, but because they are the ones most likely to have a traceable foreign extraction or dual nationality. | The majority of these are not white. That is not because the majority of serious crimes in the UK are committed by brown or black people of foreign origin, but because they are the ones most likely to have a traceable foreign extraction or dual nationality. |
| The sophistry around the technicalities of citizenship stripping betrays the reality, which is that it creates a two-tier citizenship, one unearned and unstrippable no matter what, another contingent on good behaviour, the definition of which grows narrower and more subject to the whims of the state by the day. They are also unfixed technicalities – the scope has already been expanded from serious crime to terrorism and now to the Rotherham sexual abuse case, One legal adviser told the Independent: “There are no limits. It is not just potential terrorists who face losing their UK citizenship. Those involved in serious or organised crime, and who hold dual nationality, can expect similar justice.” This is chilling, and the fact that the targets are criminals should not make it any less so. The argument with regard to terrorism has a more legitimate basis, as taking up arms against one’s own country implies a loyalty to another; but where does this leave trickier cases – like white converts to Islamic extremism? | The sophistry around the technicalities of citizenship stripping betrays the reality, which is that it creates a two-tier citizenship, one unearned and unstrippable no matter what, another contingent on good behaviour, the definition of which grows narrower and more subject to the whims of the state by the day. They are also unfixed technicalities – the scope has already been expanded from serious crime to terrorism and now to the Rotherham sexual abuse case, One legal adviser told the Independent: “There are no limits. It is not just potential terrorists who face losing their UK citizenship. Those involved in serious or organised crime, and who hold dual nationality, can expect similar justice.” This is chilling, and the fact that the targets are criminals should not make it any less so. The argument with regard to terrorism has a more legitimate basis, as taking up arms against one’s own country implies a loyalty to another; but where does this leave trickier cases – like white converts to Islamic extremism? |
| Related: The Lords must vote against Theresa May's plan to strip Britons of their citizenship | Clare Algar | Related: The Lords must vote against Theresa May's plan to strip Britons of their citizenship | Clare Algar |
| Tying criminal acts to origin is also shows a reluctance to take ownership of your national problems. Whether it is terrorism or sexual abuse, these are problems that affect British society as a whole, no matter how much one would like to think that they are alien, due to foreign infiltration. Passport-stripping and deportation might quench a vengeful thirst, but they do not cleanse, or prevent these things from happening again. | Tying criminal acts to origin is also shows a reluctance to take ownership of your national problems. Whether it is terrorism or sexual abuse, these are problems that affect British society as a whole, no matter how much one would like to think that they are alien, due to foreign infiltration. Passport-stripping and deportation might quench a vengeful thirst, but they do not cleanse, or prevent these things from happening again. |
| Passport-stripping also has implications for social cohesion and integration. That some criminals will be hosted at her majesty’s pleasure, at the expense of the taxpayer, with all the privileges and recourse to rehabilitation that affords, and others will be deported if a foreign link can be proved, is a state of affairs that sends a strong message to the children of immigrants – your nationality is on constant parole. | Passport-stripping also has implications for social cohesion and integration. That some criminals will be hosted at her majesty’s pleasure, at the expense of the taxpayer, with all the privileges and recourse to rehabilitation that affords, and others will be deported if a foreign link can be proved, is a state of affairs that sends a strong message to the children of immigrants – your nationality is on constant parole. |
| No one wants to come out to bat for the citizenship rights of terrorists and sex abusers, but this is not a defence of them or a minimising of their crimes. It is about the conditionality of citizenship, and the dilution of the British nationality of those of provable foreign extraction, irrespective of their dual-nationality status. Civilised societies do not begin to water down their institutional rights based on whatever legal and political regime is presiding at the time, no matter how serious the crime or undeserving the criminal. | No one wants to come out to bat for the citizenship rights of terrorists and sex abusers, but this is not a defence of them or a minimising of their crimes. It is about the conditionality of citizenship, and the dilution of the British nationality of those of provable foreign extraction, irrespective of their dual-nationality status. Civilised societies do not begin to water down their institutional rights based on whatever legal and political regime is presiding at the time, no matter how serious the crime or undeserving the criminal. |