In the early hours of the morning on Tuesday 2nd January 1906 a boat approached British shores with an unusual cargo. Aboard were ten American sailors who had just been saved from death on a shipwreck … First, they had to meet the British authorities: the crew were questioned, refused entry, and incredibly, ordered back out to sea. Why? The shipwrecked sailors were officially destitute, alien immigrants. Who Should We Let In? Ian Hislop on the First Immigration Row, BBC 2017
The question that has haunted its politics ever since: who do we let in and who do we keep out? ibid.
The open door was at the heart of [19th century] British identity. ibid.
The concerns about cheap labour intensified anxiety over fast-changing neighbourhoods. ibid.
The British Brothers’ League: in favour of restricting the further immigration of destitute foreigners. ibid. poster
The Aliens Act of 1905 … protecting asylum seekers … a distinction between worthy and unworthy immigrants. ibid.
Fear of foreigners sold a lot of newspapers. ibid.
Every year thousands of children travel to Britain from poor countries seeking new lives. The government allows some to stay till their eighteen and grow up British. But once they become adults they face deportation back to where they were born. Don’t Deport Me, I’m British, BBC 2017
The government places most unaccompanied asylum-seeking children into foster care. ibid.
In the last ten years the Home Office has deported over three thousand eight hundred young people. ibid.
Battle of Port Gibson 1863: About a tenth of the Union army was composed of German-born soldiers … ‘Immigration is America.’ How the World Made America I, History 2017
America is a tapestry: every dot on the map is someone living there right now. Using the latest population data it shows how the world made America. ibid.
DNA evidence shows that Native Americans are descended from Siberian nomads who entered North America at least 15,000 years ago. ibid.
The cities of Philadelphia and Boston are founded by the English. ibid.
Some two million Spanish settle to the South. ibid.
German Americans sign up in droves … Today almost 50 million Americans claim German heritage. ibid.
The need for workers will fuel immigration. ibid.
‘America in the 19th century was still very much a land of opportunity.’ How the World Made America II
What made a third of Norwegians move to the Great Lakes, the Pacific north-west? How did a volcano create an explosion of Italians in New York City? Why does World War II lead to a vast migration of women? And how does new railways impact the great African-American migration north? ibid.
Members of the Mennonite church travelled to America from Russia looking for land … In 1873 some 12,000 members of the Protestant Mennonite sect moved from the Ukraine to Kansas. ibid.
New York City: also home to more than one million Jews, more than any other city on Earth … Two million Jews leave eastern Europe for the United States. ibid.
On America’s west coat another wave of migration is under way. ibid.
There are now just over four million Chinese-Americans, 40% of whom lived in California. ibid.
On a wasteland by the ferry port ten thousand residents of the Jungle face eviction by the French authorities. This World: Calais, The End of the Jungle, caption, BBC 2017
‘It wasn’t the ideal place to put migrants whose only wish was to jump on a lorry to Great Britain.’ ibid. rozzer
‘They set up a roadblock. The police arrive in force. A second roadblock appears and a third one further up the road …’ ibid.
‘More than 30 migrants have died trying to jump on lorries.’ ibid.
‘To watch it burn down was quite shocking.’ ibid. volunteer
Powell: ‘In this country in 15 or 20 years time the black man will have the whip hand over the white.’ Rivers of Blood: 50 Years On, Channel 5 2018
On April 20th 1968 Conservative MP Enoch Powell made one of the most racially provocative speeches in British history. ibid. caption
Enoch Powell’s ‘Rivers of blood’ speech was his warning about the dangers of mass immigration. Powell feared Britain’s changing identity. ibid.
‘Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad.’ ibid. Powell
‘We were told that it was the mother country.’ ibid. senior black Caribbean woman
Around 470,000 new Commonwealth immigrants entered Britain between 1955 and 1962. ibid.
In the aftermath of the Rivers of Blood speech, Enoch Powell was sacked from the shadow Cabinet. Thousands marched in support and against him. ibid.
I don’t know who he [Ivan] is. This is my apartment I assure you. The Visitor 2007 starring Richard Jenkins & Haaz Sleiman & Danai Gurira & Hiam Abbass & Richard Kind & Michael Cumpsty & Marian Seldes & Maggie Moore & Bill McHenry & Amir Anison et al, director Tom McCarthy
We are illegal. We are not citizens. ibid. Zainab
You can’t just take people away like that. Do you hear me? He was a good man, a good person. It’s not fair! ibid. Walter
As an island nation Britain has been shaped not just by the waves that batter the coastline but by the ships that have carried people to our shores over the century. A Passage to Britain I: The Viceroy of India, BBC 2018
Mumbai: By tracking down some of the Viceroy passengers I’ll reveal the untold history of these Asian pioneers. On its 17-day journey in October 1933 the Viceroy stopped off at Aden, Suez, Port Said and Marseille before finally arriving at London’s Tilbury docks. ibid.
Britain in the 1930s was predominantly white. In the population of 46 million there were just over 7,000 Asians living in the whole country. The biggest immigrant communities in London were the Irish, Italians, Russians, Poles and German Jewish refugees. ibid.
1947: After decades of struggle India won its independence from Britain and Partition created two nations in one land … A ship left Bombay shortly afterwards: the SS Asturias. It was one of the first passenger ships to leave for Britain after independence. A Passage to Britain II: The Asturias
On its fifteen day journey the Asturias left Bombay and after stopping off at Aden and Port Said it docked at Southampton on 23 October 1947 … There’s over 1,000 names. ibid.
Partition was a time of horrific violence across India and Pakistan, and refugees fled in one of the largest forced migrations in history. ibid.
More than 10,000 Poles were housed in camps in India set up by the British in support of their wartime allies. ibid.
Here in Southampton that the great passenger liner The Batory docked on 4th March 1954. The 553 passengers on board had travelled over 7,000 miles from Bombay. A Passage to Britain III: The Batory
20% of the Indians and Pakistanis on board were heading to the Midlands. ibid.
‘Your family: did they come through Ellis Island?’ Ray Donovan s6e5: Ellis Island, Bridget’s other half to Ray, Showtime 2018
With Britain’s future hanging in the balance, we look at one of the key issues that fuelled the Brexit victory in the referendum: there are currently 3.7 million EU nationals in Britain; many British hoped Brexit would reduce that number. Dispatches: When the Immigrants Leave, Channel 4 2019
Can Britain manage without migrants? ibid.
Brits are not keen to come and pick strawberries. ibid.
When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re sending people that have lots of problems … they’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. Donald Trump
We’re rounding ’em up in a very humane way, in a very nice way. And they’re going to be happy because they want to be legalized. And, by the way, I know it doesn’t sound nice, but not everything is nice. Donald Trump, interview 60 Minutes 2015
Why are we having all these people from shithole countries coming here? Donald Trump, White House meeting 2018