LONDON, 22 March. - (ANA) - In Britain our cover looks at that country’s surprising superpower: its ability to turn immigrants into citizens. Britain now has a larger share of foreign-born residents than America. 

 

One in six of its inhabitants began life in another country. Britain excels at getting foreigners up to speed economically, socially and culturally. For all the sound and fury of its politics over asylum, on integration it is a model for the rest of the world.

 

The idea of Britain as a nation of immigration might seem counterintuitive. Its citizens voted to leave the European Union in 2016 after they were promised a tighter chokehold on inflows of people from Europe. 

 

This week politicians in Parliament tussled over a bill that will make it easier to ship asylum-seekers to Rwanda without hearing their pleas. This is the latest in a string of illiberal laws designed to stop migrant boats across the channel.

 

Neither does the country crow about the migrants it has. Other places have grand immigration museums; the one in New York harbour draws millions of tourists each year. Britain’s small Migration Museum, which was founded not by the state but by some worthies, sits in Lewisham Shopping Centre in south London, between a discount store and a shoe shop.

 

The United Kingdom is a model for European countries to emulate as its diversity contributes to its prosperity.   - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/22 March 2024 - - -