Immigration Control by Skin Colour

India and China may be the biggest tourism markets in the globe, and we may have an over supply of hotel rooms, but we'll be damned if we'll let them in.
There have been horribly embarrassing cases of people chucked out by immigration controls - the most recent, a Nigerian Missionary last week and this today.

22/09/2008 - 13:14:37
The Immigrant Council has accused some immigration officers of humiliating foreign tourists visiting Ireland.
The council says it would like to see the Garda Ombudsman Commission given independent oversight of the immigration service.
It is pointing to a recent case where a Nigerian priest was reportedly taken to jail, strip searched and threatened with deportation.
An Indian tourist has also claimed he was treated in a degrading manner while trying to enter the country for a trip he won in a competition sponsored by Tourism Ireland.

From most polls, it seems that the vast majority of Irish people are not racist and welcome new people, whether on holiday or as legitimate immigrants. It seems that there is something wrong in the Immigration Service at point of entry. Does anyone have any experience of this?

Yup, plenty of my friends in secondary school were boarders. I always remember when we arrived back after the sixth year holiday the interrogation which the Nigerian borders received on their return to Dublin Airport. It is unsurprising that they have been rarely willing to visit us here in Ireland again since we completed school. We tend to meet up in London.

The best immigration experience I have ever had was at Kenyatta Airport in Nairobi. On seeing my Irish passport, the Kenyan border official behind the desk said "Oh, I see you are Irish? Dia Duit" to which I said "Dia is Muire Duit, conas atá tú?" he replied to me "Táim go maith go raibh maith agat agus tú féin?"!!!

His brother had lived in Ireland for 5 years, learnt Irish and on his return to Kenya he taught it to his family.

johnfás wrote:

The best immigration experience I have ever had was at Kenyatta Airport in Nairobi. On seeing my Irish passport, the Kenyan border official behind the desk said "Oh, I see you are Irish? Dia Duit" to which I said "Dia is Muire Duit, conas atá tú?" he replied to me "Táim go maith go raibh maith agat agus tú féin?"!!!

His brother had lived in Ireland for 5 years, learnt Irish and on his return to Kenya he taught it to his family.

"is cuma liom más dubh nó geal iad is ionúin liom Clanna Gael."

There was a student from a Dublin Gaelscoil was one time on a train coming back into the republic from the North on his own. Despite having a white parent he was as black as the ace of spades. An official borded the train and asked him for a passport, which the young fella didn`t have in his possession. An argument ensued which led to the lad feeling insulted about his Irishness at which point he refused to speak English anymore and would only answer the official in Irish. The other passengers were left witnesses to a scene where a guy, unable to speak Irish, was appealing to the person who he had basically accused of not being Irish to stop speaking Irish in order to accomodate him.

The case of the Nigerian Missionary was quickly latched on to as a stick to beat the Garda National Immigration Bureau by those who represent the open door immigration lobby. It was of course unfortunate, but the person in question did themselves no favours in being unable to distinguish between very basic familial relations.

I can't help, given the country of origin though, picturing a Father Ted like scene of a plane load of "Nigerian Priests", dressed in clerical garb, arriving into Dublin airport and trying to establish their bona fides.

What goes on in terms of harrassment of people coming into the country with any skin colour darker than magnolia is a perpetual embarrassment and a national shame. It is nothing to do with open door immigration, just not wanting us to look and act like something out of "Deliverance".

cactus flower wrote:

What goes on in terms of harrassment of people coming into the country with any skin colour darker than magnolia is a perpetual embarrassment and a national shame. It is nothing to do with open door immigration, just not wanting us to look and act like something out of "Deliverance".

are you suggesting we should restrict our harrassment to people of the paler hue?

zakalwe wrote:

cactus flower wrote:

What goes on in terms of harrassment of people coming into the country with any skin colour darker than magnolia is a perpetual embarrassment and a national shame. It is nothing to do with open door immigration, just not wanting us to look and act like something out of "Deliverance".

are you suggesting we should restrict our harrassment to people of the paler hue?

Maybe just to members of the Government

cactus flower wrote:

zakalwe wrote:

cactus flower wrote:

What goes on in terms of harrassment of people coming into the country with any skin colour darker than magnolia is a perpetual embarrassment and a national shame. It is nothing to do with open door immigration, just not wanting us to look and act like something out of "Deliverance".

are you suggesting we should restrict our harrassment to people of the paler hue?

Maybe just to members of the Government

alas their skin is impervious to all onslaughts!