He was the Home Office whistleblower who, in March 2004, told a Sunday broadsheet about a scandal in the immigration system. Migrationwatch rushed out a comment on the case. The following day, the tabloids repeated the claims and that Tuesday, the Mail and the Express had the story on their front pages.
Have you heard of Louise Perrett?
She is a UK Border Agency whistleblower who, on Tuesday, told a daily broadsheet about a scandal in the immigration system. Migrationwatch never issued a comment. None of the tabloids wrote a single word about her claims.
Why the difference?
Because Moxon exposed behaviour that was letting migrants in to Britain without the proper checks.
Whereas Perrett claims:
asylum seekers are mistreated, tricked and humiliated by staff working for the UK Border Agency
And why would the anti-immigration papers be interested in that?
Her claims are shocking:
One manager said of the asylum-seeker clients: 'If it was up to me I'd take them all outside and shoot them.'
And:
If a case was difficult, Perrett claims, she was simply advised to refuse it and 'let a tribunal sort it out.'
And:
staff kept a stuffed gorilla, a 'grant monkey', which was placed as a badge of shame on the desk of any officer who approved an asylum application.
And:
one official boasted to her that he tested the claims of boys from African countries who said they had been forcibly conscripted as child soldiers by making them lie down on the floor and demonstrate how they shot at people in the bush.
One method used to determine the authenticity of an asylum seeker claiming to be from North Korea was to ask whether the person ate chop suey.
As yet, these allegations haven't been investigated or verified, but that never stopped the tabloid press rushing to repeat what Moxon said.
But his claims were something that they wanted to believe because it made the immigration system look bad, and it made it seem as if Britain was letting migrants in unchecked.
These allegations make asylum seekers look like they might be being badly treated, like they might actually be victims.
And that just doesn't fit the tabloid agenda. So they pretend it isn't happening.
Preferring instead to write about buying quiche. And eggs with extra yolks. Twice.
(Hat-tip to Duncan Stott)
I shouldn't be surprised by Miss Perrett's comments as I have had some dealings with UKBA in Croydon and quite frankly their attitude stinks. I am, however quite shocked by some of her claims. It is an utter disgrace and should be a huge news story but as you say it does not fit with the agenda of the tabloids. Migrationwatch are often wheeled out for an opinion on immigration matters but who are they exactly and who do they represent?
ReplyDeleteThe Daily Mail must have been very short of space on Wednesday because they couldn't find room to report that the Lancet has retract Dr.Andrew Wakefields article on the link between Autism and the MMR jab. When his article was first published the DM gave it a lot of coverage and used it as a stick with which to hit the government and put the fear of god into parents and grand-parents. But now it has been totally discredited the Mail seems strangely silent.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this, and the comments on a story on the Mail website about a 16 year old girl who hid behind a dashboard in a car to get to this country, my hope for humanity is very low this afternoon.
ReplyDeleteI fully expect without exaggeration that if these claims HAD been reported in the Mail, they would have been met with a resounding 'Good!' from the commenters.
Since the Sky TV show UK Border Force contains numerous scenes of immigration people making insulting or sarcastic comments to immigrants' faces (generally to people who can't speak English), it's easy to believe the stories about the UKBA, and also to appreciate why there's nothing new about them. Maybe we should be glad that unlike Sky TV none of the tabloids turned Perrett's revelations into a humorous story how our brave border guards keep their spirits up faced with hordes of illegal immigrants.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this as I hadn't seen the story and am angry that it did not get widely picked up. Angry as well, that I can believe every horrible word of it and angry that the papers, the journalists and readers would see it as a good thing. Now what we need is some good ol' fashioned nanny state intervention...sack all of those who do the bullying, refusal of legitimate claims, the bullies and so on, send them on some training courses and if necessary prosecute. That would be a political correctness gone mad that I would relish reading.
ReplyDeletei can't [can] believe this asn't been picked up. it's simply horrific. argh - so sick of the mainstream media.
ReplyDelete