A Thanet resident who was eventually granted British citizenship after fleeing Iraq in 1999 has criticised Labour MPs’ call for digital ID to tackle ‘illegal migration’ as ‘nonsense.’
Aram Rawf arrived in the UK as a 17-year-old after fleeing Iraq in the back of a lorry. He had been taken to a mountain camp in northern Iraq – previously Kurdistan – and says he was tortured by extremists for two months after he refused to train as a suicide bomber.
A ruse by his older sister saw him taken to hospital and then on to his escape.
More than 20 years later Aram is a British citizen, a former Thanet councillor, a volunteer and campaigner and currently works with the Samphire Project which engages with migrant and British communities to improve social cohesion.
Aram is inviting East Thanet MP Polly Billington and others to meet him for a briefing about the problems with proposals for digital ID.
Digital ID letter
Ms Billington is among 40 Labour MPs who have signed a letter calling for the government to introduce digital ID cards to tackle ‘illegal migration’.
The letter, which was sent to the Home Office, the Cabinet Office, and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, says the introduction of ID cards would support the government to crackdown on ‘off-the books’ employment which is a major draw for people entering the country through irregular routes.
They say digital ID would help counter the problems as well as helping to tackle modern slavery and drive up wages and employment rights for those working legally.
The letter also says the other benefits of digital ID cards would include cutting government waste and bureaucracy and improving citizens’ ability to do everything from paying taxes to renewing passports and booking NHS appointments.
However, Aram says he is ‘appalled’ by the ‘ignorance’ displayed towards refugees in connection with the ID proposal.
He said: “As a former asylum seeker I have been appalled at the attitudes and the ignorance I have seen displayed in parliament about refugees and the call for “digital ID cards”.
“I arrived in Dover in the back of a lorry, fleeing torture and war from Iraq in 1999. I am now a British citizen and work for a Samphire Project charity helping refugees, so I am in a good position to comment on what I hear coming from my political representatives.
“Polly Billington recently signed a letter from 40 labour MPs to the Home Office which stated: “digital ID cards …. go a long way to prevent migrants without legal status from accessing public services or working in the illicit economy where they undercut the wages of legal workers.”
“To me, this is nonsense. For a start there is already a system in place of e-visas, which will replace any paper documents and record a migrant’s immigration status. This can be used with potential employers, landlords etc.
“Unfortunately, e-visas have a number of problems. Users need the right technology, computer or smartphone, to access their e-visa. If they are out of coverage, have no internet or just run out of pay as you go time on their phones, they can’t access their e-visas. If they are stopped by the police, for example, they can’t show their visa.
“My MP didn’t seem to know that some form of digital ID does exist and that it is has many problems.”
Language
Aram says he is also upset at the language used about migrants.
He said: “More problematic is the language the politicians are using to justify digital ID – referring to an “illicit economy”, “legal workers”. This implies that migrants are illegal in some way.
“Firstly, anyone has the right to apply for asylum in any country that has signed the 1951 Convention on Human Rights and remain there until the authorities have assessed their claim. “Article 3 of the Human Rights Act is the key to protecting all those seeking protection (Asylum) from being returned to countries where they face the risk of torture, harm or death.
“Many would-be migrants don’t have the opportunity to apply for the right documentation to enter the UK. Maybe the passport office in their country isn’t functioning, or they are escaping from their own government. You can’t ask for permission to run away from the authorities who are persecuting you!
“Many run from a war zone with nothing. I did! I had no passport, and only the clothes I was wearing as I had to escape quickly to avoid being seen by the captors who had imprisoned me.
“When I arrived in the UK after days in the back of a lorry, I was dumped on the road with no idea which country I was in. I didn’t choose Britain, I just left danger and was very glad to arrive somewhere safe. I was 17. I have not seen my sister since, or any of my family.
“I looked for work as soon as I could speak enough English, and I am now a British citizen with a British passport.
“Like all other British citizens, there is no law to force me to carry any kind of ID, let alone digital ID.
“A British person applying for a job needs a national insurance number so when politicians talk about “the illicit economy” and “legal workers”, they must be talking about people working without using an NI number or being paid cash in hand and not paying tax, or committing a crime! You don’t have to be an immigrant to do any of that.
“The police in this country may stop and question anyone that they see as suspect, but the law does not require refugees to carry their ID.”
Scheme costs
Cost of the scheme is another issue raised, with Aram asking how the expense can be justified when government has also made ‘cuts in disabled people’s benefits, pensioners’ benefits and many other services from this year’s budget.”
It is reported that analysts estimate a nationwide digital ID rollout could cost over £1 billion.
He disputes that the system would tackle people smuggling gangs, saying safe routes are the best solution.
He said: “Digital ID will not stop the people smugglers. To do that we need more United Nation camps across EU countries to provide safe routes. This is the thing that will beat the smugglers that are making money at the cost of so many human lives, and the government can say we will only take people from those camps.
“The current safe routes are only for those who served with the British Army or worked with the British government. The Ukraine style of help for refugees has not been offered to any other nations.
“Our government needs to stop blaming the refugees for our economic problems and stop using the most vulnerable in our society as an excuse for making cuts.”
Ms Billington disagrees and says digital ID will end the practice of migrants finding themselves “trapped in illegal work characterised by dismal wages and exploitative conditions.”
She said: “National ID cards are common in European countries, and bring a range of benefits, including simplifying the everyday bureaucratic headaches we all experience like booking a GP appointment, paying our taxes, or claiming a pension.
“Having an ID system in the UK would also help the government to crack down on illegal and exploitative work practices that undercut the wages of legal workers and fuel modern slavery and serious organised crime.
“Having been promised glittering job opportunities by cross-channel people smugglers, migrants arriving in the UK instead frequently find themselves trapped in illegal work characterised by dismal wages and exploitative conditions.
“A digital ID system would help to tackle this problem, which is why I and 40 of my Labour colleagues are calling for the government to introduce digital IDs so we can secure our borders and tackle these vile gangs.”
ID cards
In 2006, the Labour government wanted to introduce ID cards for every citizen in the UK, but the scheme was scrapped by the Conservative- Lib Dem Coalition in 2010.
Last year eVisas were introduced for people granted permission to stay in the UK for more than 6 months or with indefinite leave to remain (also known as settlement) to prove their identity and status in the UK.
In 2024 Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told Times Radio that ID cards were not part of the government’s plans. Politics Homes publication says Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is understood to be sceptical of the plan and its ability to tackle people working illegally in the black market.
However, government is developing the “Gov.uk Wallet,” a secure app that will store digital driving licenses and veteran ID cards, with rollout expected by 2027. The system is designed to be voluntary and will allow people to use the digital versions of documents in the same way as paper or card versions.
How ironic!
Someone raised in a totalitarian environment doesn’t grasp that those raised in the land of Magna Carta, which was the first to ban slavery outright and has done quite well forever without the requirement to carry or present identity documents don’t want them.🤡
One can apparently integrate, yet still bear the hallmarks of the culture in which one was raised. It is a thoroughly un-English proposition.
I worked in local government , for many years as a fraud investigator, and was always surprised that there was no real way of proving identity. Passports have no address on them and we consistently found forged and counterfeit documents being used by fraudsters for claims for Council Housing, housing benefit, blue badge parking permits, social security benefits and many others. Some were migrants with no rights to residency in the UK but others were white English crooks scamming the system. I could write a very large book on this .
Polly Billington is wrong to suggest ID cards solely to stop migrants but it’s right and the work done in the early 2000s showed that cards issued with all passport claims, driving licence renewals and benefit claims would cover 97% of the population. In addition persons not covered could apply voluntarily for ID cards. When he was Home Secretary, David Blunkett supported this approach and it is well worth reprising the reports produced at that time. The Tory/Lib Dim government made a stupid mistake in abandoning this solution and were truly the “fraudsters friends”. The section I worked in had a number of people of Afro-Caribbean descent. I was surprised to be told that Trinidad had a long established ID card system that all citizens got on their 16th birthday. It was popular with kids as when you got one it showed you were grown up! If the state wants to track you legally or otherwise ,it can do that at present. ID cards are just an anti fraud measure.
Of course you conveniently forget to mention that everybody born in the UK gets an NI number issued by the government when they turn 16, just like the Trinidad thing you were so shocked about-in my day you also had a plastic card with it on sent to you & anybody from overseas wanting to work in the UK has to apply for one as well. Amazing that people in your department had no idea about these things-despite having your own number & having worked for government agencies myself the identification process before you could discuss details with the individual, was always their NI number.
So there is the way to identify somebody-if they have an issued NI number from the government then then they can prove who they are. Plus the government are perfectly happy to write letters to us at our address-they know who we are, so please explain why these cards are needed when NI numbers exist & all the other documentation on top already.
Of course Blunkett wanted them in power & wants them again now-like Bliar he is a revolting Tory, who used his office for personal gain, as proven by his track record as the leader of Sheffield council, an MP/cabinet member & his media comments & probably would financially benefit from them as well.
Of course the problem is governments & companies they use have proved to be totally useless at keeping our information safe for one thing & the other is it will be used for everything eventually, whether you pay by cash or card-to buy food you will need to produce it, to travel you will need to provide it etc.
Sure the government or agencies acting on their behalf can get hold of most information-but they have to work hard for it, this thing will track you everywhere you go automatically feeding information back to either the government or whoever gets the deal. They won’t have to bother getting cell phone data from companies & towers & many of us don’t have a smartphone or even a block phone to be tracked.
An NI number is just to notionally link a tax deduction to a contributions register, yes many get one automatically, but hige numbers ofmothers get one purely as a resultmof working and having tax deducted , the checks as to eleigibility were ( maybe still are ) were cirsory inthe extreme.
A proper ID , would enable the authorities to definitively identify someone and verify what they are entitled to do and what services they can access.
Innitself ID wouldn’t stop people arriving but would make it harder to disapear into the black economy or access services.
Personally i have no problem with the idea. But it’ll never happen as we’d have to legitimise the 2-3 million who live in the country vut should’nt be. The additional cost that would entail would be unaffordable , especially given it’d explain why our services are so underfunded. ( more people to provide for than the systems are funded for) Plus of course once legitimised all those previously illegal residents would then want to bring family to join them.
Every British citizen gets one at 16, so again why do need these when those & all the supporitng ID prove who we are & always have done? They are perfectly happy to send us all manner of confidential information at our addresses based off that number.
Because it’s been too easy to get an NI number , or are you saying only those born here have NI numbers? Plus all an NI number does is link a name to a contribution record. It means next to nothing in terms of ID.
Its just an excuse to keep track of you. Government surveillance. It wont change immigration.
Yes, we know & pointed it out here recently mate. Nobody needs an ID card-because we all have a number given to us when we reach 16 by the government.
It is just about greedy Tory Bliar filling his pockets, as he has shares in the company that would get the contract to make them & a way for the government of the day to control & spy on us even more.
Don’t hold your breath waiting for her to turn up, she will be busy getting her free food & drink at some art gallery most likely. She doesn’t believe a word of it of course, none of them do-it is just Daily Fail rhetoric that they think people will buy into & sadly for the most part she is right.
Everyone has digital ID now…. Finger prints………….doh !
Digital ID is nothing to do with immigration…its just an excuse to control the population and control everyone…its not for our benefit.
The gentleman concerned came here in the back of a lorry, he should have been arrested for stowing away. These people put other fare paying passengers and ferry crews life at risk, the number of passengers are calculated for safety reasons any extras could hinder emergency procedures. Would he stand back and say take my seat in the lifeboat or raft because I haven’t paid.
He was a child, Anon! He needed shelter, and protextion from torture, and being forced into becoming a suicide bomber! He was being forced to become a suicide bomber, because if not his family would have been killed! Its people like you that are ignorent, and ill informed that encourage thugs that attacked asylum seekers a few months ago, mostly women and children seeking safety. Have some compasssion for those least fortunate!
No ID no stay. I’m a floating voter and I am not voting for anyone who doesn’t do something about the UK being invaded by those who are deceiving the authorities by making out they are seeking asylum when in reality they are illegally entering our country.
Well Ken, this all started once the UK left the EU, before then anyone entering the first safe EU country they arrived at was investigated, and if they had a genuine asylum seeker case they were distributed throughout the EU countries. If they didn’t they were returned to where they came from. Once the UK left the EU this arrangement stopped, and so the UK gained “Pulling Power” because we no longer had an agreement to return non asylum seekers to other countries! Turkey does not have an agreement with the UK for illegal migrants to be returned for intance. The best answer would be to rejoin the EU, and the problem would be solved!
Illegal immigrants are mostly young men, economic migrants seeking a better life. No one can blame them for this, but it’s costly for the UK, which has become a magnet for them. There are fewer women and children. The answer is to improve conditions in the countries they are fleeing.
He would say that, the man who proclaimed asylum seekers are welcome . Look what that costs every single hard working tax payer on Britain. 8 million a day and rising . Serviced almost strained to the roof. Housing, health care. Children services ruined.
A good rough figure for the cost to the uk for each successful asylum claim is around 1 million, housing, health ,education, additional costs when right of family reunion exercised , soon add up. Very very few will ever come anywhere close to contributing that much tovthe UK economy in their lifetimes ( more will likely never have a real job)
The enemy’s of this country don’t come in small boats they come in private jets and limousines.
Iraq is safe now, I know Iraqis who work in the uk that travel home regularly. He can go back and take his adopted culture there to make Iraq better but he has chosen to stay here and abandon his people. Let that sink in.
Dumpton, he was 17 at the time hardly a child, don’t get sucked in by all these hard luck stories, when illegals stow away they break the law, and if they want a better life it was not necessary to do that. Many illegals got on the ferries were spotted by the crews and handed over to police on arrival in Dover, mostly young men all fit and healthy, all had mobile phones and clean clothing, they paid a lot of money to get where they were, so why not pay the fare.
Absolutely Anon. All these people are from the middle and upper classes in their homelands. Many are leaving specifically to avoid doing national service.
35 years ago I was chair of the local Amnesty group. Before, as with the Green movement, the organisation was infiltrated by Marxists. Supporting brave people in their homelands to create change. We would often receive requests from Alf Dubbs or the Refugee Council for cash. We always turned them down. Brave men stay to protect the vulnerable. Same as our predecessors here did. They don’t run away to save their own skin. The gentleman mentioned in the article escaped from his captors. He was obviously resourceful. He didn’t need to cross a continent and a half to find refuge. Did he?
Can anyone remember what “Over the first safe border” means ?
It’s 14 years of Tory misrule that has left us in this mess but let’s ignore that and blame the asylum seekers .