Deported for a speeding offence

Not fit for purpose

SATURDAY 25th August, 2012: Today The Mail reveals how Poloko Hiri, a Commonwealth citizen with an  ‘exemplary’ record in the British Army,  is being ordered out of the UK for  committing a single speeding offence.

Only Britain’s scandalously incompetent immigration system would hound a man with a proud record of service to  this country while allowing foreign rapists and killers who should have been deported years ago to walk the streets with impunity.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2193293/He-volunteered-fight-Britain-Now-soldier-faces-deportation-jail--speeding-fine.html

THIS has got to be one of the most outrageous abuses of power the UKBA has exercised in recent times. Or perhaps 'exercise' is the wrong word to describe this inflexible and unsupple organisation. 

The letter that effectively rejected Poloko Hiri's appeal described how leniency could be applied in cases of one-off misdemeanours of a minor nature - such as motoring offences. It then proceeded to say that his single speeding fine did not fall into that category.

 Poloko Hiri on Ops with his colleagues

Classifying this soldier as a 'foreign criminal' may be semantically correct. -  by virtue of Home Office rules - but as a Welshwoman with an (albeit now spent) speeding conviction, I could be described as the same. 

OK - I jest. But there is no redeeming humour in this story.

If a letter from a soldier's Officer Commanding, vouching for his integrity and character, can be over-ruled by a bureaucrat who has never met him, what hope of sanity prevailing anywhere in the UKBA. In theory, discretion can be exercised - indeed it recently was, in favour of admitting the girlfriend and child of a Fijian officer to the UK . . .  after his death!

http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=209241

Poloko Hiri has a daughter in this country, he has given four years  service to the British Army, he has skills and a university place, he is educated, articulate and armed with enough learning credits from his time in the Armed Forces to part fund his higher education  . .  I could go on.

To  earmark this man for  deportation, knowing that on return to Botswana he will be arrested under a Foreign Enlistment Act that has already seen once British soldier imprisoned, is seriously discomforting The signal it sends to other Foreign and Commonwealth soldiers is clear - when you are no longer serving, you are  utterly disposable.

But the fact is, these 'disposable people' are veterans - the same  people we speak of with such reverence and pride when the national mood or the tabloid headline requires! These 'veterans' are the people ostensibly protected by the 'Military Covenant' - aren't they?

A UK national who has served for just weeks in HM Armed Forces, and been dishonourably discharged for a serious offence,  can be seamlessly absorbed back into civilian life knowing that he has access to the support of around 3000 military-related charities for the rest of his life.

Men like PH, and Fijian veteran  'Bale' Baleiwai, who have served honourably and earned glowing reports ( and in Bale's case five medals )  find themselves in the surreal situation of seeing minor transgressions treated as criminal offences. This 'special treatment' distinguishes them from the men and women alongside whom they have served, and sometimes fought, for many years. It is flagrant two tier justice and it's effect in humanitarian terms is both brutal and disproportionate.

As Kim Baleiwai told me earlier this week, "If my husband had come home from Afghanistan or Iraq in a body bag, he would have been described as a hero. Because of a scrap with a fellow soldier that was dealt with summarily by his CO he has been branded a criminal. Surely if  Bale is considered good enough to die for this country, he should be considered good enough to live here!"

Doubtless Poloko Hiri's friends and family are having the same thoughts.

* The charity Veterans Aid (/www.veterans-aid.net/ ) has helped more than 70 Foreign and Commonwealth service personnel and their families since January 2012. It has been dealing with their diverse citizenship and leave to remain problems generally for the last five years. Working with TTV (www.ttvpictures.co.uk)  the charity has commissioned a short video report on the subject that can be seen on its website. A documentary on the Military Covenant and its application to Foreign & Commonwealth service personnel is planned.