The #BordersBill is hideous and should be scrapped for many reasons. One thing it has, yet again as with Brexit and EU citizens, highlighted though is just how little awareness so many people have of the UK's immigration laws as it stands. 1/
The bill doesn't suddenly allow the government to strip 6 million people of citizenship. It has been able to do, and has done, that for years. What it does is mean the government doesn't need to tell someone that they have had their citizenship stripped. 2/
That in an of itself obviously makes it harder to appeal, but the actual act of being able to strip citizenship is already there. Likewise when people spoke of Brexit and EU citizens being stripped of rights, they ignored that non-EU citizens have faced that for years already. 3/
Maybe this is a failing on those of us who work to campaign against these policies. Maybe we have failed to raise significant awareness. Maybe though people only pay attention when they think it relates to them. 4/
The Borders Bill doesn't change the fact that people have already been stripped of citizenship. It has made people more aware of it though, and maybe that is good because they can now start fighting back against it, but don't pretend it is new. 5/
This bill denies safety and security to those fleeing persecution. It allows for operations in the channel which will cost lives, and the prosecution of those who try to save them. It makes a mockery of international law and human rights. 6/
But so much in the existing legislation already does that. Be angry, but don't pretend that it is only just happening please. The UK has demonised and discriminated against migrants for decades. Stand up to it. Not just with the #BordersBill, but with existing legislation. 7/
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