Migrant Tales, Author at Migrant tales

(Migrants’ Rights Network) Workplace immigration checks and raids: What needs to be done

Posted on September 13, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Alina Müller

The cooperation of the management of Byron Hamburger’s with Home Office immigration enforcement officers in a sting operation earlier in the summer symbolises everything that can go wrong for migrant workers when employment law and immigration policy merge.

For many people with deep inside knowledge about the vulnerable position of migrants in the UK today, the key issues are unfair immigration regulations and harsh exploitation of workers. The type of collaboration with enforcement measures that the Home Office expects from employers when it comes to policing their workforces adds to the risks for migrant workers today.

Strong interest in this issue prompted an MRN-organised panel discussion last week. It considered what we can learn from the Byron Hamburgers case as well as similar incidents. The aim was to develop strategies for successfully challenging immigration workplace immigration raids.

The broader context

The session looked at the Byron Hamburgers case in the broader context of worker rights and immigration enforcement to try to understand the challenges trade unionists and others concerned with the rights of workers now face.

Strategies to push back against immigration raids in the workplace need to take account of the following:

Raids are concentrated in specific sectors and specific jobs within that sector, typically low-wage and precarious such as the hospitality sector.
Migrant workers in these sectors, particularly undocumented workers, face conditions produced by an increasingly unregulated labour market coupled with the ‘deportability’ factor of non-citizens. They are particular vulnerable and live with the constant ‘unpredictable possibility of deportation’
People do move between different immigration statuses and the requirements for a specific status change constantly. So we have to be careful about differentiating between documented and undocumented workers.
Immigration raids are racialised and gendered. A new report by Corporate Watch revealed that 12 times more men than women are arrested in workplace raids. People from Pakistan, Bangladesh and India make up 75% of those arrested. Restaurants and takeaways are the types of businesses hit in the main.

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Iraqi asylum seeker allegedly attacked by four Finns at the Kontula shopping center of Eastern Helsinki

Posted on September 12, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales understands that a young Iraqi asylum seeker was allegedly attacked from behind by two men and two women at about 2am on Sunday at the Kontula shopping center of Eastern Helsinki. The young man, who was found unconscious by the police, was taken to a hospital but released later.

“The asylum seeker was taken back to the hospital this [Monday] morning because we noticed that he couldn’t speak clearly, complained of pains in the head,” a source told Migrant Tales on condition of anonymity. “We called the ambulance and they took him to the hospital.”

Considering that it may take months for the police to investigate a hate crime, do they take what happened seriously considering that the asylum seeker may be deported to Iraq before his case comes up.

What happened at the Itäkeskus shopping center on Sunday?

Posted on September 12, 2016 by Migrant Tales

It appears that there is no evidence to support that a Muslim woman was allegedly attacked by 10 people at the Itäkeskus shopping center of Eastern Helsinki, according to Helsingin Sanomat. This is great news since the alleged victim is safe and sound.

Maryam Askar is a Somali activist who has appeared on television a number of times. She allegedly gave the racist sensationalist online publication an interview about what happened on Sunday.

Granting a racist publication like MV an interview is a definite trap and no-no. Or did she give MV an interview? The online publication makes up a lot of news.

Video material received by Migrant Tales shows one scene where the woman, using a niqab, not being allowed to enter the shopping center because of Suomi ensin (Finland first) supporters and even being shoved by one.

Apart from being shoved, one Suomi ensin protestor insults her by stating “what the f**k are you doing here.

The woman in the niqab is allowed to enter the shopping center after the police arrive.

This is pretty serious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SrE59LLoco

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White Finns attack a pregnant Muslim woman at the Itäkeskus shopping center

Posted on September 11, 2016 by Migrant Tales

A Muslim woman who was four-months pregnant was attacked Sunday by around ten white Finn suspects at the Itäkeskus shopping center located in Eastern Helsinki, reports Helsingin Sanomat.

This story has been updated here.

At the time when the Muslim woman was attacked, a demonstration by far-right Suomi ensin (Finland First) was taking place outdoors at the same shopping center.

The victim, who had her veil and clothes torn when the police came, was able to identify one of the attackers, according to tabloid Iltalehti. Witnesses were able to identify the other ones.

Read the full story (in Finnish) here.

(UPDATE): Christian Thibault, an anti-racism activist, said that the police should be more effective in trying to defuse potential problems at the Itäkeskus shopping center.

“Some people who took part in the Suomi ensin demonstration are accusing the Muslim woman of provoking them,” he said. “That may be a question but isn’t the demonstration a provocation to the peaceful people who visit Itäkeskus?”

It would be disingenuous to claim that there is no connection with the alleged attack against the Muslim woman and the xenophobic climate in Finland that is fueled and maintained by groups like Suomi ensin and other far-right xenophobic groups.

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Who determines who we are?

Posted on September 11, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Here’s a simple question: By law, a person is a Finn if he or she is a Finnish citizen. Why, then, are some of these Finnish citizens spoken of and near-constantly reminded by society that they are so-called “people with foreign backgrounds?”

What does it really mean to be labelled “a person with foreign background” in a country like Finland, where migrants and minorities are targets of fearmongering, xenophobia, and bigotry?

The only person who determines your identity is yourself. Picture by Enrique Tessieri.

In Sweden, a country that has many more migrants than Finland uses as well the label “person with foreign background.”

Philosopher Michael McEachran of Stockholm said that a person who is labelled “with foreign background” in Sweden is code used by officials to mean non-Europeans or non-white people.

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Xenophobia and fearmongering are effective age-old control tools to keep the Finnish public in line and on a short leash

Posted on September 9, 2016 by Migrant Tales

One matter that some political parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* use constantly is the anti-immigration card to get votes and media attention. What can we say when a retired police service commissioner uses xenophobia and fear to boost book sales?

One important question that journalists should ask when covering a story is why did a certain piece of news become news at a particular time?

Retired Police Service Commissioner Mikko Paatero created quite a stir this week by claiming that asylum seekers in this country are secretly organizing and networking with criminal gangs.

Picking on asylum seekers is easy because they have no power. Paatero acts just like a bully at school.

One of the matters that surprised me about his statements was how much media attention they got.

Xenophobia and fearmongering go hand in hand. Our fear of the outside world in Finland has been an effective tool to control society and quell dissent. The name of Paatero’s book, “Faltering internal security,” spoonfeeds fear to the Finnish public. I don’t have to buy and read this book to understand what its message is.

Paatero’s book, “Sisäinen turvalisuus horjuu” (Faultering internal security), is political. He uses age-old social ills like xenophobia and fearmongering to keep the public on a short leash and to attack those that disagree with him. One of the messages of his book is to get more money for the police service because, according to him, insecurity and possible crime by asylum seekers, among others, are on the rise.

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Suomen Kuvalehti: The Finnish government’s hardline immigration stance is not the standard in other European countries

Posted on September 8, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Finally, some Finnish media, like Suomen Kuvalehti, is investigating the abuses and lies of the government against Iraqi asylum seekers. As Migrant Tales has pointed out previously, there are many scoops ready to be reported if only the media cared to look closer and write about them.

When the media doesn’t question or permits the government to get away with a lie you allow the tale to grow.

The Suomen Kuvalehti story is a positive example of how the media is telling the government to stop spreading half-truths and lies about its immigration policy. Don’t do that because we’ll investigate and publish what really happens.

On Sunday, we saw Helsingin Sanomat publish an investigative piece about problems at the Finnish Immigration Service.

One of the excuses that the government of Prime Minister Juha Sipilä has used to justify its draconian line on immigration policy is that “the same happens elsewhere in Europe.”

Nonsense and doubletalk.

Xenophobic parties like the Perussuomalaiset* are quick to criticize EU encroachment in Finland’s affairs but are more than happy to cherry pick the hardline immigration policies of countries like Denmark.

Read the full story (in Finnish) here.

According to Suomen Kuvalehti, 64% of Iraqis got asylum in Europe last year while in Finland the corresponding figure was 26%.

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Iraqi asylum seeker Majid*: The Finnish Immigration Service made me lose all hope, that’s why I wanted to take my life

Posted on September 5, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Beri Jamal, Zimema Mhone and Enrique Tessieri

It was a sunny Saturday afternoon of June when Migrant Tales met Majid, an Iraqi asylum seeker who attempted to take his life after he had lost all hope.

At first glance, Majid had the appearance of many young asylum seekers you’d meet in Finland. But it was his story that stood out from the rest of them.

According to Majid, the assessment by the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri), which claimed that countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia are “safe” to return asylum seekers, was what caused him to lose hope. The long waiting for a residence permit is another reason he cites as were the high negative decisions by Migri.

Reader discretion is advised.

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Majid: “The day after the [Oikeus elää – Right to live –???? ?????] demonstration [in Helsinki]… after I returned to the refugee centre… I felt that nothing will change and it made me really sad. I thought that if they send me back to Iraq… I will still die, so in every way, I was condemned to die by Migri.

[When I decided to take my life] I was awake until three o’clock in the morning. It was then that I decided I did not want to live any longer.

I took a knife and stabbed myself five times on the top of my head until I started bleeding profusely. I tied up towels and made a long enough noose and tied it to the ceiling. I then took a trash can that was in the room… stood on it… tied the noose around my neck… and tilted the bucket until ?my body was hanging from the ceiling.

Earlier, one of the guys I shared a room with, notified the refugee center’s security guards. He had a feeling that I going to commit suicide.

I was unconscious when the security guards found me…. and when I woke up, I found myself in a hospital. The situation is very complex and difficult to explain, and I do not know what my future holds.

I don’t know if the Finnish government will allow us [Iraqis] to live or die. And if I begin to lose hope again… I will repeat what I did. To go back to Iraq? I will never do it. I am dead either way.

Majid:”I felt that nothing will change… and it made me really sad. I thought that if they send me back to Iraq… I will still die, so in every way, I was condemned to die by Migri.” Photo: Enrique Tessieri

Continue reading “Iraqi asylum seeker Majid*: The Finnish Immigration Service made me lose all hope, that’s why I wanted to take my life”

Helsingin Sanomat article on the Finnish Immigration Service sheds light on an institution distanced from human rights and Nordic values

Posted on September 5, 2016 by Migrant Tales

It is surprising that whenever a Finnish government tightens immigration policy, it washes its hands by stating that it’s common practice in the EU or Sweden. Is it? If a landmark decision last month by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is anything to go by, the government’s hardline stance on returning asylum seekers to a “safe” country like Iraq is more than questionable.

The controversial case in Sweden, involving three Iraqi asylum seekers and the Swedish government ended in a favorable ruling for the Iraqis.

Writes the Daily Express:

“The controversial case could set a precedent for the remaining 27 member states after the court’s refusal to accept the national judgement.Sweden ordered the deportation of the trio after turning down their asylum claim in 2011. Decision makers ruled although there is an ongoing terror threat in Iraq, the danger is not such that it effects every person in every town. But the family fought the government in the highest court and have won the right to remain.”

Even if a lot of people were surprised by Sunday’s Helsingin Sanomat story about the tough line that the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) concerning Iraqi asylum seekers, we weren’t.

One recent victim of Migri’s policies is Mohammed Khulbus Idnan, a former Iraqi asylum seeker who returned to his country and was shot by militias.

Pictures of Mohammed Khulbus Idnan in hospital after returning to “a safe” country like Iraq.

After meeting with many asylum seekers and workers at asylum reception centers, it was clear that Migri had in place a “fast-track” system to send back as many asylum seekers as possible to countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia.

After the Helsingin Sanomat story was published on Sunday, there was nothing than denials from Prime Minister Juha Sipilä that the government wasn’t pressuring Migri to make as many negative decisions as possible.

The denial by the prime minister is highly incriminating.

(UPDATE 5.9) Social Democrat MEP Liisa Jaakonsaari blames directly the government for Finland’s hardline stance.

Jaakonsaari tweets that “it’s despicable to blame the Finnish Immigration Service when in fact [the hardline stance on asylum seekers] is government policy.”

(UPDATE 6.9)

It appears that Khulbus Idnan isn’t Migri’s only victim. The Facebook posting below was published on Monday.

Thank you Tino Singh for the heads-up.

Another posting on Monday in Migrant Tales tells about a young Iraqi asylum seeker who attempted to take his life because Migri had forced him to lose all hope.

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The refugee business in Finland is booming

Posted on September 4, 2016 by Migrant Tales

What do you think about private companies making profits off asylum seekers? What do you think about this company, whose turnover rose to 12 million euros and paid bonuses to its major shareholders, which has been accused of treating asylum seekers under its care “like livestock?”

Do you understand the Finnish state, which is supposed to be a model of the Nordic welfare state, allows a private company to take care of people that seek asylum in our country?

That’s like subcontracting the army or our school system to a private company that only thinks of one matter: profit.