The PDF essay presented here is called "Safe Borders Secure Removal Centres" and is an extract from Steve Cohen's book: "No One Is Illegal (published by Trentham Books in 2003) . Cohen has been an immigration lawyer in the UK for 25 years and has also spent that period politically resisting immigration controls. Before retiring he was director of the Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit (a publicly funded free service organisation). In 2001 he wrote "Immigration Controls, The Family and the Welfare State" (published by Jessica Kingsley) - a political guide for those within the state system (social workers, teachers, benefit workers, housing officers etc) who now find themselves as enforcers of immigration control because of the increasing nexus between immigration status and welfare entitlements.

No One Is Illegal is an important collection of essays. It is written from an explicit perspective of opposition to all immigration controls. It rejects the notion that there can be “fair” or “anti-racist” controls. At the same time it aims to raise controversial debates within the movement against controls – not least as to what “no controls” means in respect to political practice.