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Reg Harcourt reports on the Home Office Amnesty for illegal immigrants which is being ignored as many of the illegal immigrants are too frightened of being subjected to questions about how they came into the country.
The story begins with a fairly long sequence watching a man walking down the street and the camera is positioned low down to begin with, following the man’s feet.
We then cut to a room with a table and the man is then interviewed by reporter Reg Harcourt.
We don’t, however, see his face as his back is to the camera. Named as Sahota, he is questioned via an interpreter, the Vice Chairman of the Community Relations Committee, about how he entered Britain and what he has been doing since he arrived.
Harcourt asks him about how he came into the country, what work he has been doing and how he obtained a National Insurance Number. Sahota does not know which British beach he first landed on and says that he has been working in a mouldings factory,
The Vice Chairman emphasises the fear the interviewee felt and how wide spread this feeling is among illegal immigrants.
No credits specified
On 11 April 1974, the Home Secretary announced an amnesty for Commonwealth citizens and citizens of Pakistan whoentered the country illegally on or after 9 March 1968 and before 1 January 1973.
The amnesty applied also to people who were refused entry by an immigration officer and then entered the country illegally before 9 March 1968. Both classes of people could apply to have their position regularised and, if evidence of their entry and subsequent residence was satisfactory, their passports were endorsed by an immigration officer to give indefinite leave to remain.
The Home Secretary further announced on 29 November 1977 (Hansard 29.11.77, Written Answers cols 125-128) that Commonwealth citizens or citizens of Pakistan whose last entry had been secured by deception before 1 January 1973 could apply to have their stay regularised, and they were dealt with similarly. (source: IND web site).