Read these words from 100 years ago about immigrants in Britain and see how history is chillingly repeating itself | George Monbiot

"The home secretary's new attack on the rights of immigrants and refugees is shocking and disorienting. Shabana Mahmood wants to raise the qualification period for immigrants to achieve indefinite leave to remain in the UK from five years to 10 (and up to 20 for refugees). It looks outlandish. So does her wider assault on asylum seekers, denying them permanent refugee status even if their claims are successful."

"As home secretary, he raised the hurdle for immigrants to achieve naturalisation (equivalent to indefinite leave to remain) from five to 10 years, and to 15 years for Russians. Russians tended to mean Jewish refugees, fleeing pogroms and other oppressions. Joynson-Hicks made it as hard as possible for refugees to settle in the UK."

"The home secretary issued instructions to immigration officers to increase their vigilance and never to give the benefit of the doubt to an alien attempting to enter the country. He visited the ports to examine the tighter procedures and encourage officials to greater zeal."

Political memory lapses cause societies to treat government policies as novel when they often have deep historical precedents. The UK Home Secretary's recent proposals to extend qualification periods for indefinite leave to remain from five to ten years, and deny permanent refugee status despite successful claims, mirror policies implemented a century ago. In 1924, Home Secretary William Joynson-Hicks, an antisemite appointed to appease right-wing factions, raised naturalization hurdles from five to ten years, with fifteen years for Russians (primarily Jewish refugees). Joynson-Hicks instructed immigration officers to increase vigilance and deny benefit of doubt to aliens. While contemporary policies may lack antisemitic motivation, they structurally replicate historical exclusionary patterns, suggesting cyclical political responses to right-wing pressure.

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