\n<\/p>\n
I am writing in response to your article about immigration enforcement visits to restaurants (\u2018They singled out non-white, foreign-born workers\u2019: the restaurants raided by Britain\u2019s version of ICE, 24 March). While public debate often becomes quickly polarised on this issue, I believe most people would agree on two simple principles: the law should be upheld, and people should be treated with dignity.<\/p>\n
It is reasonable for any government to enforce immigration and employment law, and businesses should operate within those laws. However, enforcement methods matter greatly. When enforcement appears intimidating, targeted or publicly disruptive, it risks creating fear not only among those\u00a0breaking the law, but also\u00a0among lawful workers, customers and communities.<\/p>\n
A country is judged not only by its laws, but by how it enforces them. Firm enforcement and humane treatment should not be opposites; a confident society should be capable of both at the same time. True justice is not found in harshness or leniency alone, but in the balance between strength, fairness and humanity. ICE has a chilling effect \u2013 and is meant to. Servants of authority enjoy having power and relish making others feel it. If they wanted to check on a workforce, they could get the paperwork from the management and have a civilised visit \u2013 not a mob-handed interruption of diners\u2019 pleasure that will put the poor punters off going there again \u2013 to see the people who correspond to the names on the payroll. It would take about 30\u00a0minutes immediately before the restaurant opens, when all the staff will need to be there, but not under immediate pressure, and it would be a\u00a0civilised interaction. Regarding your article on Britain\u2019s version of ICE, I was holidaying recently in Wales, having a curry in a nice restaurant. In they came, just three of them in their big uniforms, so everyone could see, asking inane questions that everyone could hear, that a daytime, non-uniform visit could have covered, if really necessary. This was low-level intimidation, to establish a baseline. I am from Belfast \u2013 we know this sort of stuff. Did we vote for this creeping authoritarianism? Apparently we did. Did we vote for a government comfortable with Reform-style policies? Apparently we did. Have an opinion on anything you\u2019ve read in the Guardian today? Please <\/em><\/strong>email<\/em><\/strong> us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our <\/em><\/strong>letters<\/em><\/strong> section.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I am writing in response to your article about immigration enforcement visits to restaurants (\u2018They singled out non-white, foreign-born workers\u2019: the restaurants raided by Britain\u2019s version of ICE, 24 March). While public debate often becomes quickly polarised on this issue, I believe most people would agree on two simple principles: the law should be upheld,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[2917,2081,4490,364,12587,4339],"class_list":{"0":"post-47531","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-justice","8":"tag-asylum","9":"tag-immigration","10":"tag-officers","11":"tag-people","12":"tag-respect","13":"tag-treat"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/47532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Aurelia Maynard<\/strong>
Camberley, Surrey<\/em><\/p>\n
Mike Rogers<\/strong>
Frome, Somerset<\/em><\/p>\n
Paul Maguire<\/strong>
Belfast<\/em><\/p>\n