Free movement is seen as an unworkable position – but it is our current immigration system, both in the UK and globally, that is unworkable. It is barbaric, it produces exploitation and, with the rising threat of the climate crisis, it is unsustainable.
For too long, the status quo has been accepted as the default ‘common sense’ approach, but border enforcement policies are a relatively recent phenomenon. In the UK, they date no earlier than the 1905 Aliens Act (and until 1962 the UK had an open-door policy to Commonwealth countries), while the first fence on the US-Mexico border was erected only in the 1990s.
While there is no doubt that border enforcement policies are deadly, their effectiveness is questionable. Yet they cost us a fortune – from complex technologies to back-room deals signed with regimes in different countries to contain their populations. Then there is the incalculable loss incurred by systems preventing people from reaching opportunity and from being entitled to work, change employer or unionise.
