British Home Office Blunders

(London) The Home Office has announced that an illegal immigrant from Nigeria has been working as a guard at its London headquarters.

Since the Home Office is responsible for immigration policies, along with crime, policing, terrorism and national security, the revelation that an illegal immigrant passed security screening is a nuclear embarrassment.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is reportedly "beyond incandescent."

A Home Office spokesman confirmed the individual had been granted a licence by the Security Industry Authority (SIA), and was now subject to deportation proceedings.

The illegal worker was identified and arrested the day after Ms Smith told the Commons that more than 11,000 could have been cleared by the SIA to take on sensitive security jobs since 2004.

The authority had been failing to check whether applicants had the right to work in the UK before handing out licences.

So the day after Home Secretary Smith declares that the SIA has licensed thousands of illegals, one is identified. How fortuitous. One has to wonder about the timing of the two announcements.

Nevertheless, the issue of inadequate screening of immigrants is merely an addition to a growing list of complaints regarding the operation of the Home Office.

In one, Ms. Smith has been accused of "breathtaking arrogance and deceit" after a leaked memo disclosed a secret scheme to sabotage police pay demands. Police are understandably angry and have called for Ms. Smith to resign. In response, Ms. Smith laughed and said, "I'm still here."

However, there's also disturbing news that the government, through the Home Office, is involved in a "stealth amnesty" campaign for illegal immigrants. According to one official:

"Since these are people who had not been granted the right to remain in the UK, this combination of low removal rates and lengthy delays, means this is effectively a stealth amnesty. This is a policy by incompetence rather than decision."

The negligible deportation rate can be blamed on Jacqui Smith, for now. However, the problem started long before she took office last June.

Citing the words of an unknown pundit, the British Home Office has discovered that "it's hard to remember to drain the swamp when you're up to your ass in alligators." Even so, it's unfair to be too critical of the British since I'm convinced that illegals passing through security screening is also a significant problem in the U.S.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.