A letter to the editor in the Guardian states:
As academics involved in research on the uses and abuses of state power, it is becoming increasingly apparent that members of staff in universities and colleges are being drawn into a role of policing immigration. … We strongly oppose the imposition of such changes in the way that academic institutions are run.
Good for them – they say they won’t check their students’ IDs and passports.
But there are numerous examples of the state forcing private citizens to do their policing, and usually those individuals don’t have the cloak of ‘academic freedom’ to hide behind. To name a few that place a burden on business in the US: employers must withhold employees’ income for taxes, they must report their new hires to the local or state authorities so that child support records can be checked (and then withhold delinquent child support payments), and the burden of immigration compliance also falls on the employer who must check their employees’ passports, visas, etc…
Link via Nature.
8:45 pm on April 14, 2009
