Immigration news

The Prime Minister of the UK, David Cameron, says that he is 'working towards' his target of reducing net immigration into the UK to 'tens of thousands' a year by the 2015 general election.

Mr Cameron was interviewed on satellite TV news channel Sky News by journalist Dermot Murnaghan on 18th May 2014. Mr Murnaghan asked him if he believed that the UK would meet the target on five occasions. Mr Cameron failed to answer the question.

He said that 'we are working towards it and we're doing everything we can to deliver it'.

Pollsters are predicting that the EU elections will prove difficult for ruling parties throughout the European Union. Polls show that immigration is one subject that is driving voters to vote for fringe parties on the right and left.

The European elections will be held throughout the EU on 22nd May. There are 751 seats being contested. Pollsters expect the votes for mainstream political parties to fall dramatically. Polls show that fringe parties, often with anti-immigration policies, are likely to do well.

Robert Buckland, a member of the UK parliament, has written an opinion piece for UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph saying that immigration from the EU to the UK is 'essential' to the future of the UK.

Mr Buckland is the MP for Swindon South and a member of the Conservative Party headed by Prime Minister David Cameron. The Conservative Party is often seen as being, in general, against the European Union and against immigration.

Sir James Dyson, one of the UK's leading entrepreneurs, has again criticised the UK immigration system.

Sir James, who founded and runs Dyson best known for its range of vacuum cleaners, said that it was 'sheer madness' for the UK to train large numbers of engineers at its universities and then not allow them to stay in the UK. This, he said, would mean that other Countries will benefit from an influx of new engineers rather than the UK.

The US State Department says that Narendra Modi will be issued a US A1 visa as the new prime minister of India after his landslide victory in the Indian election. Mr Modi has previously been denied a US visa because of allegations that he was responsible, in part at least, for the deaths of more than 1,000 Muslims in Gujarat in 2002.

Sal Russo, a high-profile Tea Party activist, has called on the US Congress to 'fix' the US's immigration system. Mr Russo wrote an opinion piece for the Washington political newspaper Roll Call in which he called for a complete overhaul of the US's 'broken' system.

The Tea Party is a radical, right-wing, grassroots movement. It is not a homogenous movement and has no leaders or structure. Because it is a loose grouping with no manifesto, it cannot truly even be said to have any policies; Tea Party activists are united by an opposition to 'big government' and taxes.