First they came for the naturalised citizens...

[nanila]

I became a UK citizen last August.

Today, the UK government (ETA: House of Commons - it's not gone to the Lords yet) passed a law that permits naturalised UK citizens to be stripped of their citizenship.

Yes, it's aimed at a specific and relatively small group of people, e.g. "foreign-born terror suspects" who have been resisting deportation for years. But it's a terrible, terrible precedent to set. It makes people like me, who are, presumably, not considered terror suspects despite our participation in dubious things like having opinions on our blogs and our Twitter feeds, feel unwelcome and scared.

I find it even more distressing that this news barely makes the front page of the BBC News. And it turns up as "MPs reject Tory rebels' immigration amendment", which might lead one to believe that the portion of the immigration bill to which I'm referring here didn't pass. You have to click through to find out that "...MPs did vote in favour of Home Secretary Theresa May's plan to strip foreign-born terror suspects of UK citizenship, by 297 to 34."

If anyone needs me today...well, frankly, I'll just be in my corner, staring unhappily at my knees.

Comments

[forthwritten]

Awful.

My parents are naturalised citizens. I don't understand exactly how you feel, but I can get some sense of it.

[nanila]

Not that many people have direct experience of naturalisation, so it's always nice to hear sympathetic voices. Thank you.

[kaberett]

I am so, so sorry.

[nanila]

The current social/political climate surround immigration is really appalling. :(

[soliano]

How sad. Wasn't George Orwell from the UK?

[nanila]

Yes, yes he was.

[sfred]

Struggling for appropriate words, but this makes me very angry and very sad.

[nanila]

I struggle for words about this issue, too, but I feel it's important for me to say something, so that at least my circle of acquaintance is aware that they do in fact know someone with direct experience of immigration/naturalisation and that it is NOT an easy process, even if you go about it through the correct formal/legal channels.

Well...

[ysabetwordsmith]

A country that wants people to be frightened and insecure of their safety is not in a good place.

Re: Well...

[nanila]

No, it isn't. And I'm sad that both my native and adopted countries seem to be in that place.

[kerrypolka]

I remember having a conversation with a British-born friend and another non-British-but-about-to-become-a-UK-citizen friend about two years ago. The British-born friend was asserting that although immigration might become more difficult, the UK would never ever revoke anyone's immigration status once they held it, because that would be just unthinkable. My foreign-born friend I were both not so sure. I'm very sad to see our fears were well founded.

[nanila]

The attitudes surrounding immigration have undergone a dramatic shift in my (our) time here (I think we've both been here for about a decade?). It's been quite depressing to watch.

[rmc28]

I heard this, on one of the rare cases where I hear news radio in the morning, and it made me so angry that it was a fine example of why I don't listen to news radio in the morning.

My grandmother was a foreign-born British citizen.

[nanila]

Yeah, the Today Programme pretty much invariably raises my blood pressure. Sometimes I can take it, but other times I have to turn it off.

[kerrypolka]

I've looked into this and am relieved to find that this amendment to the Immigration Bill hasn't been passed into law yet - the Commons have voted to add it but it still has to go through the House of Lords, which could remove it before it becomes law.

[cosmolinguist]

Here's hoping this is another example of insanity failing to pass because of the House of Lords. There have been startlingly many in this government.

[kerrypolka]

Seriously, it's really been earning its keep as a political institution in the past few years!

[nanila]

I certainly hope it does. I don't see this standing up to a challenge in the ECHR, but I can also see the deportation of certain people being pushed through before the law could be repealed.

[cosmolinguist]

I'm even less keen on becoming a British citizen now. And I didn't think that was possible.

[nanila]

Attitudes toward UK immigration have certainly undergone a dramatic shift since you & I moved here. :/

[magister]

On behalf of my government and ex-employers, I apologise unreservedly.

I do remember how much stress you had getting ILR a few years ago and this is just vile.

[nanila]

Not your fault. I'm certainly not pleased with your ex-employers for creating a working environment so toxic that rational, empathetic persons such as yourself were driven out of the service.

[magister]

Thank you. I work for a charity now giving advice on how to cope with debt. It's a far nicer place to work - particularly since I'm actually helping people.

[antisoppist]

It is horrible. I did hear quite a bit about it on radio 4 yesterday, I think in World at One, and thought "who decides who is a "suspect" exactly? My husband is an EU citizen and has considered applying for British citizenship in case we pull out of the EU but that isn't going to be any more reassuring now.

[nanila]

Yes, it was discussed on the Today Programme, with the usual calm objectivity (HA). At least this amendment still has to go through the Lords. It says something when we're looking to the Lords to save us from the knee-jerk idiocies of the elected government, and I'm not sure it's something good.

[liseuse]

I am so sorry.

[nanila]

Me too. It's terribly depressing, the currently prevailing attitude toward immigration.

[weaverbird]

This is horrible.

[nanila]

Yep, I think that about sums it up. :(

[ankaret]

I'm so sorry. Every time I think that I voted for one of the parties that's in Government now I feel sick with shame.

[nanila]

To be fair, I don't think any of the major parties are currently touting a pro-immigration stance. :/

[alwayswondered]

This fucking sucks. I'm sorry our government are such bastards.

[nanila]

They're attempting to reflect the will of the people, and the will of the people at the moment with respect to immigration is pretty appalling.

[ironed_orchid]

I'm pretty sure this goes directly against the UN's Declaration of Human Rights, which includes the right not to be stripped of citizenship.

[nanila]

Yes, I think it does, and I doubt it would stand up to a challenge in the ECHR. I just hope that the Lords strips the amendment from the bill before it comes to that.

[shirou]

Wow. Terror suspects, even. Not just convicted terrorists.

[nanila]

Yes, that's part of what I find really disturbing about the whole thing.

[emelbe]

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. *seethe*

[nanila]

And how. *returns to corner*

[duccio]

Soon to follow: work/pay equity rules (again) and a two-tiered access to NHS healthcare.
Conservatism is a mental disease. Sickens me.

[nanila]

I really hope neither of those things come to pass. I don't feel I'm overstating things when I say that the NHS is one of the greatest human achievements ever.

[sunflowerinrain]

Let's hope the Lords overturn it... and that this time it sticks, unlike the Gagging Bill.

Meanwhile, focus on Rosetta, eh?

[nanila]

It really says something when we're looking to the Lords to save us from knee-jerk idiocy, doesn't it? I'm not sure that the "something" is good, either. :/

Then they came for the natural-born Canucks

[ed_rex]

At the risk of sounding like an extremist, my government wants to go even further down the garden path of fascism: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/02/07/canadas_new_citizenship_bill_a_trojan_horse_walkom.html

Even being born in Canada won't necessarily protect one from being stripped of citizenship.

Re: Then they came for the natural-born Canucks

[nanila]

That's pretty scary. I find it especially frightening that it falls to the suspect/target to prove that they are not a dual national.

Re: Then they came for the natural-born Canucks

[ed_rex]

Yup. In their different ways, both governments are taking part in the general western movement away from democracy and liberty. It's enraging and frightening in equal measures.