This document is one of the measures aimed at strengthening Britain's borders. This topic has been particularly relevant recently: the country's government is constantly criticized for being unable to deport illegal immigrants from British shores. It is assumed that the bill will also simplify the deportation of foreign nationals convicted in the United Kingdom; their expulsion to their home country will occur automatically as soon as their prison term ends.
Last year, then UK Home Secretary Charles Clarke lost his portfolio when it became known that more than a thousand foreign prisoners who had served their sentences were released - and the authorities did not even attempt to consider their deportation.
'Borders' is an immigration bill proposed by the British government over the past eight years. It does not provide for the creation of a separate border force in the country, but immigration agency staff will receive new powers, in particular the right to arrest on suspicion of committing a number of offenses, including organizing people smuggling. According to BBC, the new document aims to implement the long-term goal of the current Labour government, which wants to ensure that everyone entering or leaving the United Kingdom can be identified, and also seeks to limit the influx of illegal labor. Last year, David Roberts of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate said he had 'not the slightest idea' how many illegal immigrants are currently in the United Kingdom. According to some data, their number reaches 400,000.
The adoption of the bill could lead to foreign citizens living in Britain having to leave their fingerprints and be photographed at the police station - so that the pictures are then stored in digital archives. Opponents of such measures, however, are convinced that this will lead to such measures being applied to British citizens themselves in the future.
The United Kingdom is one of the few countries in the world that does not have a compulsory identity card for everyone. A passport can serve as one, but Britons only get one when they need to go abroad; or a driver's license, but for obvious reasons not everyone has one. Tony Blair's government does not hide its desire to introduce universal identity cards in the country: according to Labour, this would make it possible to combat not only illegal migration but also terrorism and other crimes more effectively. However, there are many in the country who consider the introduction of a compulsory document for everyone as an attempt to suppress personal freedom.