The hostile environment

Since 2012, the UK Tories have been trying to create a "hostile environment" for (illegal) immigrants. Since then they've broken up families, detained trafficking victims, and detained and tried to deport who are entitled to be in the UK, while encouraging hate-crimes against migrants. But they've hit a new low today by arresting a woman for being an illegal immigrant after she reported being raped:

A woman who reported being kidnapped and raped was arrested on immigration charges while being cared for at a centre for sexual assault victims.

The woman, who was five months’ pregnant at the time of her arrest, attended an east London police station in March to report details of her alleged ordeal, which she said occurred in Germany between September 2016 and March 2017.

Officers took her to one of three Havens sexual assault centres in the capital, part of a network commissioned and jointly funded by NHS England and the Metropolitan police. But she was subsequently arrested at the centre and taken to a police station where she was questioned over her immigration status.

The message is clear: immigrants cannot risk reporting crime to the police for fear of arrest. But this effectiely puts them outside the law, and gives those who victimise them complete impunity. Its both utterly monstrous and corrosive of the rule of law. But isn't it so very, very British?