Washington D.C. – April 22, 2008: Last week, prosecutors dropped criminal charges against Mr. Sahadur Singh, a Sikh American truck driver, who was arrested for wearing his kirpan (a religious article of faith) in California. The charges were dismissed after the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), the nation's oldest and largest Sikh civil rights organization, intervened on behalf of Mr. Singh.
Last December Mr. Sahadur Singh, a Utah resident, was driving in Kern County, California, when a police officer stopped him for a normal traffic violation. The police officer spotted the kirpan underneath Mr. Singh’s clothing and immediately arrested him for violating the State’s concealed weapon law and for resisting arrest when Mr. Singh tried to explain the significance of the kirpan.
On the way to the police station, Kern County officers reportedly screamed at Mr. Singh asking him, “Are you a terrorist?”, “When was the last time you went over there, Taliban?” and “Did you ever send money to the Taliban?”
At the request of Mr. Singh, SALDEF contacted the prosecutor in the case, sending information detailing the religious significance of the kirpan along with a list of case law documenting the dismissal of similar charges against other Sikhs across the country.
SALDEF is currently assisting Mr. Singh in obtaining his kirpan from the local authorities. SALDEF is also working with local Kern County officials regarding the alleged racist comments made by the Kern County police officers after the incident took place.
Over the past 12 years, SALDEF has received and resolved nearly 32 cases involving Sikhs who faced criminal charges for wearing their kirpans.
SALDEF thanks the Kern County Prosecutor's office for being receptive and understanding about the significance of the Sikh kirpan and deciding not to prosecute this case.
If you have been arrested for wearing your kirpan or if you believe you have been the victim of any form of racial or religious discrimination, please contact SALDEF’s toll-free hotline at 1-877-917-4547 or email: info@saldef.org.
The new Points Based System for managing migration will simplify the rules
A Border and Immigration Agency
spokesperson said: "Our objective is to manage migration in the national
interest, striking the right balance between safeguarding the interests of the
UK resident work force and enabling UK employers to recruit or transfer skilled
people from abroad in order to help them compete effectively in an international
market. "The new Points Based System for managing migration will simplify the
rules, ensuring that that those with the right skills to benefit Britain can
come here to contribute. We have also established the Migration Impacts Forum to
enable us to take account of the impact of migration on local areas and
services.
"The recently established Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) will advise
Ministers on where migration might sensibly fill gaps in the labour market. The
MAC has already started work on the first shortage occupation list for skilled
employment which it aims to publish in June."
NEW POINTS SYSTEM BEGINS
Details of Britain's new Australian-style points based immigration system (PBS) were announced today as the Government published the rules for highly skilled foreign workers applying to come to the UK.
The regulations will start coming into force on 29 February when any highly skilled foreign nationals currently working in Britain who want to extend their stay will need to apply under the new system. In April, the new system will begin to be rolled out overseas when anyone from India who wants to work in the UK as a highly skilled migrant will need to apply under PBS. By the summer the new highly skilled system will operate worldwide.
Speaking from Delhi during a visit to discuss how PBS will work with the Indian Government, Borders and Immigration Minister Liam Byrne said:
"Our points system is starting on time and on plan. I've no problem with taking the best systems in the world, like Australia's points system, and bringing them to the UK. This is a key part of the huge shake-up to our border security this year."
"The points system means only those migrants Britain needs can come to the UK. We know that migrants contributed to our economy to the tune of £6 billion to GDP in 2006. A strong system for highly skilled migrants is vital to Britain winning these benefits because these migrants are well-educated and pay lots of tax."
"We want India to come first because India is Britain's most important market for highly skilled migrants."
The Highly Skilled tier 1 will build upon the success of the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme by continuing to attract the most talented people with the skills the UK needs to remain a global leader in the fields of finance, business, and technological innovation.
The announcement follows the completion in January of the Border and Immigration Agency's global rollout of fingerprinting for all visas three months early. Now every person in the world coming to the UK on a visa has their fingerprints taken and their details checked against watch-lists - if they're on the list for the wrong reason they can't come in and could be banned from applying to come again for up to 10 years.
TOUGHER POWERS FOR POLICE TO TACKLE TEEN DRINKERS
Tougher police powers and a call for parents and industry to play their part to prevent young people drinking and to reduce the damage caused by alcohol to individuals and communities were outlined today by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.
In a major speech to an audience of police and local authority licensing officers, representatives from the drinks and retail industries, community pressure groups and other frontline practitioners, the Home Secretary described a package of measures to tackle alcohol related crime and disorder. They included:
· a major new £875,000 national crack down by police from next week to confiscate alcohol from under-18 year olds drinking in public;
· extra powers for police, where necessary, to make it clear that it is unacceptable for children to drink in public;
· wider use of Parenting Contracts where poor parenting is identified as an issue when alcohol is confiscated from underage drinkers;
· a new multi-million pound Government public information campaign to launch this summer setting out the dangers associated with binge drinking, and raising awareness on recommended units of intake and the dangers of regularly exceeding those levels; and
· an independent review of how well industry standards on responsible sales are being met across the alcohol retail industry.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said:
“There is a lot of good work being done to tackle the damage that alcohol misuse can do to individuals, to the people around them, and to the communities they live in. But I want to go further.
“Government must lead the way and I am
determined to use all the powers at my disposal to bring about change. But in
order to do this we also need the support of industry, enforcement authorities
and communities. We all need to meet our responsibilities to make a difference.
Police must have all the powers they need to make groups of young people
drinking in public a thing of the past. A new campaign to confiscate alcohol
from underage drinkers begins this month and lessons will be learned from it. At
the same time we will continue to punish those few irresponsible retailers that
flout the law by persistently selling to children.
“Parents must play their part as well and we will give parents whose children are drinking the support they need to change their damaging behaviour.”
The Home Secretary also today published a toolkit document aimed at enforcement and licensing authorities which sets out the full range of powers now available to them.
Director of Alcohol Concern Srabani Sen said:
“We warmly welcome the Home Secretary’s announcement today of the review of the drinks industry’s standards of practice in the way they produce, promote and sell alcohol. Alcohol Concern applauds those drinks producers and retailers that have actively tried to cut alcohol related harm, but too many companies put the interests of profit above the need to do everything possible to minimise the potentially damaging effects of drinking too much.
“We hope that the Home Office review will pave the way for a genuinely constructive dialogue between Government, the industry and alcohol experts about the contribution of the drinks industry to reducing alcohol harm.”