The scale of immigration over the past few years was set out in a breakdown by National Statistician Jil Matheson, the recently-appointed head of the Government’s Office for National Statistics. She said that there are 689,000 migrants from Eastern Europe in Britain, an increase of 522,000 since Poland and seven other Eastern European countries joined the EU in 2004. But these make up only one in ten of the foreign-born population of the country, Miss Matheson found.

She also endorsed the ONS projections that say that the UK population will hit the politically sensitive 70million mark in 2029. She added the recession is likely to have only a small impact on the record levels of immigration since 2001.

The ONS report found that Eastern Europeans have begun to emigrate as well as to arrive in Britain, and overall 20,000 more Eastern Europeans came to this country than left it in 2008. Current research, Miss Matheson added, suggests that ‘a short-term period of falling immigration can be expected, before immigration levels rise again to pre-recession levels’. She concluded: ‘The current recession is likely to have a small and temporary effect on net migration.’

Her findings run counter to assurances from Gordon Brown and Immigration Minister Phil Woolas that the new Home Office points-based immigration system will curb numbers coming into the country and the 70million population mark will never be reached.

Sir Andrew Green, of the Migrationwatch think-tank, said: ‘This report confirms the massive impact of immigration on our population under the present Government. ‘It must be brought under control, but so far Government policies are completely inadequate for the purpose.’

However, Border and Immigration Minister Phil Woolas said: ‘These population projections do not take into account the impact of future government policies or those Eastern Europeans who came here, contributed, and are now going home. ‘Projections are uncertain. For instance in the 1960s they said our population would reach 76million by the year 2000, this was off target by 16million.’ He added: ‘And let’s be clear the category “foreign-born mothers” includes British people born overseas – such as children whose parents are in the armed forces or those who come to Britain at a very early age.’

Previous research counted the number of foreign passport holders, but with many being granted British citizenship counting those who are foreign born is now thought to give the most accurate figure.

The findings on the scale of immigration follow evidence that the arrival of large numbers of migrant workers has pushed down wages and living standards for low-paid workers. A report last week by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation charity found that the poorest-paid working families have been getting poorer and suffering greater unemployment not since the onset of recession, but from 2004 onwards during a time of economic boom.

Arguing the Obama administration’s case for amnesty, Napolitano laid out what she described as the “three-legged stool” for immigration reform. As the administration views it, immigration reform must include “a commitment to serious and effective enforcement, improved legal flows for families and workers, and a firm but fair way to deal with those who are already here.”

Acknowledging that a lack of confidence in the government’s ability and commitment to effectively enforce the immigration laws it passes proved to be the Waterloo of previous efforts to gain amnesty for illegal aliens, Napolitano was quick to reassure the American public that those concerns could be put to rest.

“For starters, the security of the Southwest border has been transformed from where it was in 2007,” stated the secretary. Not only is the border locked up tight, she continued, but the situation is well in-hand in the interior of the country as well. “We’ve also shown that the government is serious and strategic in its approach to enforcement by making changes in how we enforce the law in the interior of the country and at worksites…Furthermore, we’ve transformed worksite enforcement to truly address the demand side of illegal immigration.”

If Rep. Joe Wilson had been in attendance to hear Secretary Napolitano’s CAP speech he might well have had a few choice comments to offer. But since he wasn’t, we will have to rely on the Department of Homeland Security’s own data to assess the veracity of Napolitano’s claims.

According to DHS’s own reports, very little of our nation’s borders (Southwestern or otherwise) are secure, and gaining control is not even a goal of the department. DHS claims to have “effective control” over just 894 miles of border. That’s 894 out of 8,607 miles they are charged with protecting. As for the other 7,713 miles? DHS’s stated border security goal for FY 2010 is the same 894 miles.

The administration’s strategic approach to interior and worksite enforcement is just as chimerical as its strategy at the border, unless one considers shuffling paper to be a strategy. DHS data, released November 18, show that administrative arrests of immigration law violators fell by 68 percent between 2008 and 2009. The department also carried out 60 percent fewer arrests for criminal violations of immigration laws, 58 percent fewer criminal indictments, and won 63 percent fewer convictions.

While the official unemployment rate has climbed from 7.6 percent when President Obama took office in January to 10 percent today, the administration’s worksite enforcement strategy has amounted to a bureaucratic game of musical chairs. The administration has all but ended worksite enforcement actions and replaced them with paperwork audits. When the audits determine that illegal aliens are on the payroll, employers are given the opportunity to fire them with little or no adverse consequence to the company, while no action is taken to remove the illegal workers from the country. The illegal workers simply acquire a new set of fraudulent documents and move on to the next employer seeking workers willing to accept substandard wages.

In Janet Napolitano’s alternative reality a mere 10 percent of our borders under “effective control” and sharp declines in arrests and prosecutions of immigration lawbreakers may be construed as confidence builders, but it is hard to imagine that the American public is going to see it that way. If anything, the administration’s record has left the public less confident that promises of future immigration enforcement would be worth the government paper they’re printed on.

As Americans scrutinize the administration’s plans to overhaul immigration policy, they are likely to find little in the “three-legged stool” being offered that they like or trust. The first leg – enforcement – the administration has all but sawed off. The second – increased admissions of extended family members and workers – makes little sense with some 25 million Americans either unemployed or relegated to part-time work. And the third – amnesty for millions of illegal aliens – is anathema to their sense of justice and fair play.

As Americans well know, declaring “Mission Accomplished” and actually accomplishing a mission are two completely different things. When it comes to enforcing immigration laws, the only message the public is receiving from this administration is “Mission Aborted.”

Ofqual said there were fears that some certificates were being issued with little or no training or learning taking place.

It has written an open letter to all organisations that award the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) qualification.

It said: “There are concerns being expressed about the way in which immigrants coming to the UK can obtain ESOL with citizenship qualifications, as a means to applying for permanent residence in the UK.

“Allegations are being made about a number of centres offering these qualifications, stating that the certificates are being issued with virtually no training or learning taking place and with insufficient rigour in the assessment process.

“We are writing now to ask you all to review your ESOL provision, to check the centres you have approved are offering this qualification without compromising its integrity, so that the learners get the qualification they deserve and certificates are therefore valid.

“Where there are cases of suspected malpractice at a centre we expect you as the awarding organisation to conduct a full investigation and take action as appropriate.”

Mr Abbott’s reshuffle comes as the number of unauthorised boat arrivals this year approaches 2500, following the interception of the 51st boatload this year on Sunday.

Mr Morrison was elected to parliament in 2007 following the retirement of Bruce Baird, an outspoken critic of John Howard’s hard line on immigration. His appointment to the front bench follows a widespread feeling within the party that Dr Stone had failed to “cut through” in her criticism of the government, a charge she angrily rejected.

“I’ve been done over by the Right,” Dr Stone told The Australian yesterday. “It’s about payback. Immigration was so difficult because you were sandwiched between the left and the right wing of the party. I happened to believe that I was steering the right path and I had a lot of support for that, including, of course, from the leader at the time.”

Dr Stone is one of a number of moderates understood to have been dumped from the shadow cabinet. One Turnbull supporter said yesterday the reshuffle had rewarded hardline Abbott supporters and punished Turnbull backers. Dr Stone’s public outburst came on the same day deposed leader Malcolm Turnbull attacked in his blog Mr Abbott’s stance on climate change, suggesting the Coalition’s internal bickering was far from over.

Nevertheless, Dr Stone, who has accepted a position as the Coalition’s spokeswoman for women, youth and early childhood, pledged to work with her successor, as well as Mr Abbott, her ideological opposite. She said she would bring considerable experience to her new role. “I’m well known for championing the rights of women, particularly in the area of reproductive health and also indigenous, rural and migrant women,” she said.

Dr Stone fired a warning shot over the new Opposition Leader’s bow, saying it was essential the Coalition did not fall back on the hardline policies of the past. “It will be essential that the moderates that remain in the party continue to steer through the middle ground, ensuring that the real grassroots of the party continues to build in multicultural communities,” Dr Stone said. “After all, we were the party that abolished the White Australia policy with Harold Holt in 1966.”

Dr Stone’s remarks came as authorities on Christmas Island prepared to process a boatload of 40 people intercepted on Sunday night — the 51st boat to arrive this year. All told, the boats have ferried 2353 passengers and 115 crew to Australia’s shores, bringing to 2468 the number of unauthorised arrivals by boat this year. More than half of those people, 1286, remain in immigration detention on Christmas Island.

Refugee Council of Australia chief executive Paul Power criticised the system of offshore processing, saying it made more sense to manage asylum-seekers on the mainland. “Years of strident political debate has lead to a situation where decisions are made to minimise political embarrassment to a government,” Mr Power said. “Both major parties have done that.”

Excerpt: The Center for Immigration Studies is releasing the third video in its series Border Basics by Janice Kephart, Three Years of Fraud in the U.S.: The Case of Manoj Kargudri.

Following closely on the heels of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s announcement that she is looking forward to working with Congress on “comprehensive immigration reform,” Janice Kephart explores how the agency that would be responsible for carrying out an amnesty of 12 million illegal aliens still cannot ferret out fraud in a single simple employment petition even eight years after 9/11.

********

2. The American-Bashers

Excerpt: Those of us who seek to change U.S. immigration policy so that it will no longer serve as a tool to displace, disrupt, and impoverish working Americans get subject to a lot of name calling: ‘xenophobe,’ ‘anti-immigrant,’ ‘racist.’

********

3. Immigrants to the U.S. Were Once Self-Starters – But No More

Excerpt: ‘Self Starters’ are well regarded in the American culture – they create their own careers without help from family or old-school ties. All legal immigrants to the United States used to be self-starters. But no more.

********

4. Immigration Enforcement — A Jobs Program

Excerpt: Over at The Corner, I linked to a USA Today story the other day about Americans elbowing illegals out of the way for day-labor jobs, under my headline of ‘And Yet, We Still Haven’t Suspended Immigration.’ In response, one reader wrote, sarcastically, ‘Yah, because protectionism is clearly the answer for our economic woes.’ This betrayed a widespread misconception about immigration and trade, one that’s important to keep in mind as the president unveils the political theater production called his ‘Jobs Summit.’

********

5. Our Unsecure Border: More Evidence from the Coronado National Forest in Arizona

Excerpt: Our borders are not secure, despite claims to the contrary by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. And she and others have linked their case for ‘comprehensive immigration reform’ to such security.

A federal government internal incident report obtained from the Department of Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service and a news story from Nogales, Ariz., dated December 1, 2009, are indicators that our borders are far from secure — direct from those who live and work on the border. This is especially true in Arizona, the home state of Secretary Napolitano, where the southeast corner of the state is covered by 60 miles of Forest Service federal land known as the Coronado National Forest, which remains downright dangerous.

********

6. Immigration-Poverty Connection Missing in Harvard Report

Excerpt: The Nieman Foundation at Harvard has just published a sharp-edged attack on the press for failing to cover the rise of poverty in the United States. Written by investigative reporter John Hanrahan, it is available at the foundation’s website.

********

7. Same-Sex Marriage and Immigration Rights – An Issue That Could Tear Apart the Open Borders Coalition?

Excerpt: There is a question in current U.S. immigration policy debate that has the potential for tearing apart the Open Borders coalition: should the U.S. recognize same-sex marriages in the immigration context?

In other words, should we grant marital visas to aliens marrying Americans of the same sex?

********

8. In-State Tuition for Illegal Aliens — Felonies and False Hopes

Excerpt: Why does Utah, among other states, encourage students who are illegally in the United States to commit multiple, job-related felonies and why does it create false hopes for these young people?

The answer to these questions can be found in Utah’s in-state tuition program.

Whistleblowers within the immigration service have revealed for the first time that rising numbers of student visa applications have created a big global backlog because new Home Office rules left officials powerless to refuse fraudulent applicants. Undercover reporters in three foreign countries have also exposed a host of fraudulent methods used in attempts to exploit weaknesses in the Home Office’s new “points-based” immigration system. These include:

:: Fake “relatives” in Britain offered at $1,000 (£610) each, to make visa applications look more impressive.

:: Under-the-counter loans organised for foreigners to “prove” they can pay course fees and support themselves, although the money is handed back to the lender once it has appeared on bank statements.

:: Immigrants being advised to apply to a legitimate university and then switch to a bogus college once on British soil.

Last week, Professor David Metcalf, the chairman of the Home Office’s Migration Advisory Committee, said he was “stunned” by the number of colleges allowed to bring students into the country on degree courses despite them being “not proper universities”, and called for the scope of student visa sponsorship to be reviewed. A separate review is already under way after Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, last month called for a rethink of the student visa system.

The situation has worsened to such an extent, and created such a rush of applications, that one foreign government has already raised “concerns” about the points-based system with Home Office ministers, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal. Government officials in the Philippines alerted British consular staff to the large number of poorly-educated citizens who were heading for Britain on study visas.

Theresa Dizon-de Vega, Consul-General at the Philippine Embassy in London, said: “The Ambassador had a very productive discussion recently with minister Phil Woolas and officials of the UK Home Office. “The Philippine Embassy and the UK Home Office agreed to co-ordinate closely and exchange information and views on various immigration-related concerns including the implementation of the new points-based system of migration.”

It is a major blow for the points-based system (PBS) which was meant to “raise the bar” and reduce the number of immigrants coming to Britain from outside Europe. Devised by Liam Byrne, the former immigration minister who has since promoted to the Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the PBS came into force for overseas students in March. It requires students to have 40 points to come to Britain. Applicants receive 30 points for holding a course offer from a college or university, and 10 points for proving they can pay the fees and support themselves while in the country.

Sources within the UK Border Agency claim the PBS removed the discretion of entry clearance officers in British embassies around the world, who are now forced to approve applications if candidates demonstrate they have 40 points, even if they suspect the applicant is a fraud.

An investigation by this newspaper has exposed widespread abuse by visa agencies in India, China and the Philippines which are advising customers on how to get around the British Government’s requirements, with some admitting that most “students” were simply coming here to work. One agency in Fazilka, in Punjab, India, made an extraordinary pledge, telling our reporter: “We guarantee an applicant a student visa within a month.” At another agency based in a cramped, stinking building in Fazilka, close to the Pakistan border, an adviser told our reporter that students in Britain always find a way to work more than the permitted 20 hours a week.

In the Philippines, one agency offered to bolster a visa application by arranging for Filipinos already living in Britain to pose as members of the applicant’s family for $1,000 and also promised that course records could “be arranged” for a fee, even if the student had failed their exams. The applicant would then be able to secure a place in a British college – winning 30 points required under the PBS – on the basis of fraudulent paperwork.

Agencies in China advised applicants to register with a bona fide language school or university, and then switch to a bogus college once on Britain soil, to make it easier to extend their visa. Li Wiuling, an agent in Beijing, said: “You can change after you arrive, because the formal ones are expensive.” She offered a “guaranteed” visa for 40,000 yuan (£3,500) and promised that anyone who failed to attend their classes in Britain faced little prospect of being discovered. “There are so many people doing the same thing, they are all fine. There won’t be one risk out of 100,” she said.

Sources in the immigration service estimate that there are 5,000 immigrants in the London area alone who arrived here as bogus students and are working in the black economy, possibly with little intention of ever returning home.

Awareness of the Home Office’s new rules in countries such as China, Pakistan and India has led to student visa applications quadrupling in some areas, generating a global backlog running into tens of thousands, The Sunday Telegraph discloses today. Applications in Sri Lanka and Nepal are also believed to be increasing….

Damian Green, the shadow immigration minister, said: “Ministers should be very worried if the new system is easier to exploit than the old one. They must act to reassure the public, and genuine colleges, that this is not another immigration disaster in the making. “The borders agency needs to call in all applications that have come through these routes as a matter of urgency.”

A source said: “Under the old system under the Immigration Act, immigration officers could reject an application they believed was not legitimate. They don’t have that ability any more. “As long as an applicant gets the points there is no flexibility for the entry clearance officer to reject the visa. It’s a terrible loophole. “The government’s spin was that the PBS would make it much quicker and easier to spot false applications, but it has actually made things much worse.”

A Home Office spokesman denied there was a moratorium on applications and insisted that the rise in student visa numbers was down to the global recession and not the PBS.

Phil Woolas, the immigration minister, said: “The points-based system ensures that colleges and schools must be licensed to bring in foreign students, inspected by accreditation bodies and the UK Border Agency to ensure they are genuine, and take responsibility for their students. “Before we tightened controls around 4,000 UK institutions were bringing in international students, this has been reduced to around 2,000. “We continuously monitor our systems and where improvements can be made we will make them.”

The U.S. Census Bureau is preparing to count the more than 308 million men, women and children living in the country April 1, 2010. With just 10 questions on next year’s form, this would seem simple enough. Yet the count is likely to be not just the most costly but possibly one of the most difficult ever staged. “We are studying a population that is harder to count than the 2000 population,” census director Robert Groves told a group of journalists recently.

The lingering effects of the recession make it harder to find and count people. Millions of U.S. residents are now jobless or homeless — with no fixed address. One out of eight housing units is vacant nationwide; the rate in Washington state is about one in 20. Furthermore, an influx of immigrants — legal and illegal — over the past two decades make the counting that much tougher.

The Census Bureau realized in recent years that it missed significant numbers of new immigrants in the 2000 count — including many from countries where mistrust of government is common. That could again be a problem. For example, a group of Latino clerics has been urging illegal immigrants to boycott the census until Congress fixes the nation’s immigration laws. “The immigration raids have made some immigrants wary. They see census workers in that general way of being from the government,” said Sergio Romero, a professor at Boise State University who took a leave of absence to do community outreach for the 2010 census.

Among a broader group of Americans, there also appears a growing mistrust of the federal government’s reach after the 9/11 attacks and evidenced by the so-called Tea Party protests against economic-stimulus programs and health-care reform, Romero said. When he makes presentations about the census, Romero has been challenged by many of these skeptics. “Sometimes people will say, in their opinion, the federal government should not be collecting our personal information, but because it’s the law they will comply,” he said. “Others will state they will not complete the questionnaire. Period.”

The census, mandated by the Constitution, helps determine how more than $400 billion in federal funds for things like public housing, highways and schools are distributed to state and local governments. States have a big incentive to get the count right: Each uncounted person means a loss of about $1,400.

Census results are also used to determine how many members of Congress each state gets, as well as draw new political boundaries. Unlike in 2000, the U.S. government will bear the lion’s share of census costs, expected to reach roughly $15 billion. Cities and states, saddled with budget deficits, have little or no money to reach their own populations. Washington, for example, has no money to devote to the 2010 count. Seattle will spend only about $10,000 this year and an unknown amount next year.

Like the state, the city is planning some cheaper ways of urging people to fill out their census forms. Those include flashing reminders of the census on highway signs or inserting reminders into utility bills.

State and local governments have established complete-count committees, and the Census Bureau has formed partnerships within local communities to help raise awareness — particularly in hard-to-count areas where there are high concentrations of renters, immigrants, single men between 18 and 24, noncollege graduates and college students. “Our biggest problem will be getting good response from each household,” said Michael Burns, deputy regional director for the bureau. “Some people might be reluctant to put someone on their questionnaire if they are just sleeping on the couch. Or if it’s an uncle from Italy who came over on a tourist visa and decided to stay, living in the house, they might be scared to put him on the questionnaire.”

Census forms will be available in six languages — Russian, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Spanish and English. For the first time, the agency will mail out forms in Spanish to 13 million households, including to two neighborhoods in Seattle.

The recession and growing joblessness present difficult challenges about how to count people where they live. Many people have lost their homes in this recession and are now doubling up with relatives, living in RVs or in shelters. “We expect the number of people in homeless situations to go up as a result of the economy,” Burns said. “Homeless providers and advocates are seeing people now that they’ve never seen before.”

Over a three-day period in late March, canvassers will attempt to count those who are in shelters and at mobile food vans and soup kitchens. Based on information they obtain from homeless-service providers, canvassers on the final day will go out in search of those living in outdoor locations, such as under bridges, along riverbanks, and — for the first time — living in their cars.

Now, the more than two dozen undocumented workers arrested during the February raid here at Yamato Engine Specialists Ltd. are again facing deportation. “Well, what can you do? You can’t run, that’d be worse,” Gerardo Arreola Gonzalez, one of the 28 workers arrested, said about the raid. “I had to face it. Yes, I felt fear, thinking, ‘The dream is over.’”

Gonzalez’s unusual journey through the immigration system symbolizes just how much immigration policy has changed under President Barack Obama — and how it’s still a work in progress.

The deportations and likely removals are a conclusion to a case that displeased both advocates for illegal immigrants and those who lobby for stricter immigration enforcement. In this case, the company, the workers, and even the Seattle U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office that conducted the raid came in for some sort of punishment or special scrutiny.

Two days after the raid, ICE officials traded urgent e-mails going over answers to questions sent by an apparently miffed White House, according to e-mails obtained by the Associated Press through a federal records request.

In all, 28 men and women — mostly from Mexico — were arrested that February morning. One man opted to leave the country shortly after the raid. The 27 who remained were given work permits until the case against Yamato ended. Now, five of the 27 workers have been deported. Seven have been allowed to leave the country voluntarily and 15 await court dates with an immigration judge, said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Lorie Dankers. Dankers declined to comment further on the case.

“We’re disappointed. We really did think that things would be different under the Obama administration,” said Pramila Jayapal, executive director of OneAmerica, a Seattle-based immigration advocacy group. “It’s very mixed signals … we thought we were getting an administration that was supportive.”

Immigration advocates were elated when Obama took office, thinking he’d bring immigrant-friendly enforcement policies. The raid shocked them, and they protested loudly.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano then ordered an internal review of the raid. The workers arrested were given work permits, and the company became the focus of the investigation.

But those who favor strict immigration enforcement saw Napolitano’s review as a signal for lax enforcement, and a rebuke to the Bush administration’s immigration policy.

For William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, Obama’s approach to targeting involved employers is no better than the Bush administration’s targeting of those here illegally. Both are incomplete policies, he said. “I am for the actual enforcement against all parties involved in illegal immigration,” Gheen said. “Obama is an arbitrary enforcer, just like Bush, on immigration.”

The Obama administration’s approach became clearer in the months after the raid: a focus on employers. Hundreds of audit forms were sent out to businesses nationwide, notifying employers to certify that their workers have valid Social Security numbers and other forms of identification proving eligibility to work in the U.S. The administration has also sought to maintain workable enforcement agreements between ICE and local police agencies, and has sought to improve conditions for immigrants detained by the government.

The government’s audits of employment status have led to significant job losses. In Los Angeles, American Apparel fired 1,500 workers in September. In Minneapolis, another 1,200 janitors were cut in November.

In order to level charges against employers who hire illegal immigrants, federal prosecutors need the testimony of those workers, and that requires the arrest, confinement and questioning of employees to obtain evidence. “The most convincing part of that proof comes from illegal aliens,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Don Reno said after the Yamato case. “It’s going to be just as disruptive to the illegal aliens. That’s not going to change.”

That new reality doesn’t sit well with either side of the immigration debate. “How could you trust their testimony if you bribed them for it? These people will say anything you want them to say,” Gheen said. “They’re saying they’re not actively going after the worker, but the workers are a casualty when they have lost their jobs,” Jayapal said.

Meanwhile, ICE officials were heartened by some of the response they received to the raid, according to the e-mails obtained by the AP. Seattle-based Special Agent in Charge Leigh Winchell forwarded an e-mail to his staff from Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, a vocal immigration enforcement advocate, who said Napolitano’s call for a review was “backwards.” “I cannot control the politics that take place with these types of situations, but I can remind you that you are great servants of this country and this agency,” Winchell wrote to his troops.

The extension provoked an angry response from the co-ordinator of A Just Australia, Kate Gauthier. Asylum seekers could be supported in the community for a fraction of the price, or $56 a day, she said.

After the budget, the Immigration Department was given an extra $34 million for infrastructure expansion on Christmas Island. It was also topped up for an additional $11 million in running costs, 2009-10 portfolio additional estimate statements showed. “That $45 million is throwing good money after bad,” Ms Gauthier said. “When the Government came in, it agreed detention on Christmas Island was a bad policy but said it was obliged not to waste taxpayers’ money and use the facility if they needed it. Now they are going one step further.”

The detention centre was built by the Howard government to house 800 people but lay dormant until boat numbers began increasing last year. Despite numerous calls to process asylum claims on the mainland, Labor has adhered to an election promise to keep boat arrivals offshore.

The Australian Human Rights Commission said yesterday it was concerned about the level of community support and services available to people held on the small island. “Increases in numbers, of course, exacerbate our concerns,” the president, Catherine Branson, said. “The detention centre itself was designed to accommodate a certain number so to have it now modified to take a larger number raises issues we would like to know more about.”

Some dongas from the now closed Baxter detention centre had arrived on the island and more would follow, the Immigration Department said.

A spokeswoman for the Prime Minister said asylum seekers would be brought to the mainland if the island filled up.

The Opposition said more beds would not stop the dangerous and criminal activities of people smugglers. “The Government must reintroduce measures and messages that make it clear people smugglers will not be tolerated as the de facto selectors of Australia’s newest residents,” the immigration spokeswoman, Sharman Stone, said. The Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, said he supported former leader Malcolm Turnbull’s pledge to reintroduce temporary protection visas.

I don’t understand why the White House is so upset about the two party crashers at Barack Obama’s steak dinner the other night.

Is it really appropriate and politically correct to call them party crashers just because they trespassed on Mr. Obama? Does that make them criminals? Isn’t that discrimination? Shouldn’t they be rewarded for such bold and brave behavior? Maybe they were just trying to feed their family?

I would suggest that it’s more appropriate to call them “undocumented guests.”

Just because they weren’t officially invited doesn’t mean they should be treated like criminals. Maybe they should get free health care, free housing, free legal services and free White House green cards so next time they can enter legally. And they should be able to bring all of their relatives and family members, too.

How can Mr. Obama be mad at them just because they crossed over some arbitrary man-made border? They were there only to do the things that regularly invited guests didn’t want to do. (Like hang out with Joe Biden.)

How can the White House punish these poor oppressed undocumented visitors?