UK Immigration Minister Resigns After HE Discovers He's Been (Unknowingly) Employing An Illegal
02/08/2014
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This is not a case of hypocrisy, but of responsibility.The Guardian, which doesn't like immigration enforcement, reports that Mark Harper

  1. Checked to see that his employee was legal.
  2. Checked again, because he was responsible for immigration enforcement.
  3. After finding that he was employing an illegal, who had used false documents.
  4. Turned her in to the authorities.

Well done!

Immigration minister resigns for employing illegal immigrant

Prime minister accepts resignation of Mark Harper, who launched government's 'go home' campaign last year

UK Immigration Minister Resigns After HE Discovers He's Been (Unknowingly) Employing An Illegal

February 8, 2014

The immigration minister, Mark Harper, has resigned for employing an illegal immigrant as a cleaner, Downing Street said on Saturday.

Number 10 said there was "no suggestion that Mr Harper knowingly employed an illegal immigrant" but the prime minister, David Cameron, had "accepted his resignation with regret".

Last year Harper launched a government advertising campaign that targeted racially mixed areas with

In his resignation letter Harper said that while he had not broken the law as an employer, he believed that his position meant he must "hold myself to a higher standard than expected of others".

He conceded that he "should have checked more thoroughly" when he took on the highly sensitive role that the documents provided by the cleaner were genuine.

In 2007 when she was recruited to look after his London flat he was given a copy of her passport and a Home Office letter stating that she had indefinite leave to remain in the UK and the right to work and run a business.

Last month – mindful that he was steering the immigration bill through the Commons and publicly warning employers of the need to check the status of employees – he sought fresh evidence.

On Thursday morning, he said, he was informed after checking with immigration officials that she was in the country illegally.

"I immediately notified the home secretary and my permanent secretary. This is now a matter for immigration enforcement," he wrote.[More]

By the way, the Guardian uses the expression "targeted racially mixed areas" with regard to the British government's mobile billboard campaign, mentioned by Brenda Walker here.

Do they think these vans should have been sent to the few remaining areas populated exclusively by Englishmen?

Mobile billboards warning illegal immigrants to "go home or face arrest".

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