About 10,000 undocumented overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the United Kingdom (UK) are seeking the help of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to take up their plight with the British authorities. In an open letter distributed to the media, they urged Arroyo to raise the case, including the intensified crackdown on illegal staying OFWs when she visits the United Kingdom on Sept. 17-18. Backing the OFWs, Migrante chairperson Garry Martinez said the UK immigration authorities have stepped up their campaign to rid the country of undocumented workers, forcing many OFWs to live line “rats” while hiding from authorities. UK government has imposed a stiffer penalty since 2008 of £10,000 on employers for every undocumented migrant they employ. Business owners and managers who hire undocumented migrants from outside Europe also face possible imprisonment, Martinez noted. He cited the Sept. 14 crackdown by the UK Border Agency on car-wash establishments on Spalding Road, Gosberton during which UK immigration authorities caught three Iranians asylum seekers Monday. The car-wash companies employing them were issued on-the-spot penalty notices for hiring undocumented workers. The crackdown against Filipinos illegally working in Britain has affected Filipino students there. “We are also concerned on the recent cases of Filipino students in UK who have recently been the target of UK government's crackdown,” Martinez said. “We received several complaints that migrant students were subjected to interrogations by the authorities due to suspicions that they went to UK to work and not to study,” added. .There are more than 2,000 Filipino students in UK who have been enrolled in English, IT, National Vocational Qualification Courses on Health and Social Care since 2007. The number dramatically increased due to the existence of agencies that facilitate student visas. Each applicant had been charged to pay as much as P300,000, Martinez said. Migrante called on President Arroyo to address the plight of more than 200,000 Filipinos in UK during her visit in London this week Arroyo will deliver the keynote address in the “The Emerging Markets Summit” hosted by London-based newsmagazine The Economist on Sept. 17
