Afghans Hide in Air India Toilets, Reach Britain

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - At least two Afghans hid in toilets on an Air India plane and reached London without passports, valid tickets or visas and sought asylum, newspapers reported Tuesday.

The stowaways boarded an Air India flight from Bombay to London with a stopover in New Delhi Sunday. But instead of disembarking in the Indian capital, they stayed on the plane, the Hindustan Times said.

The paper quoted officials of the state-run airline as saying two Afghan nationals hid in the toilets and managed to reach London without being detected.

``The two men rushed to immigration at Heathrow and demanded political asylum. They were taken away for interrogation,'' Air India's commercial director V.K. Verma was quoted as saying.

The Economic Times, however, said there were four Afghans on the flight who made it to London without travel documents.

A spokesman for the airline declined to make any immediate comment on the newspaper reports.

The security breach coincided with the start of the government's Aviation Security Week designed to reinforce security measures at airports around the country.

India has been on heightened alert since the Sept. 11 air assaults on the United States. There have been two hijack scares in India since then.

``The two men rushed to immigration at Heathrow and demanded political asylum. They were taken away for interrogation,'' Air India's commercial director V.K. Verma was quoted as saying.

It is my understanding that, due to legislation invented by Teddy Kennedy, anyone who makes it to JFK airport--or any U.S. port-of-entry--need only yell for political asylum and state that he is a refugee. Immediately he becomes immune from, e.g., instant deportation. Authorities must schedule a hearing and release him. The vast majority vanish into the crowd and are never seen again.

This is my recollection from an article read long ago. If anybody knows this is wrong, please correct me.

--Boris

You're right. That's the law. Thanks to Senator Kennedy's 1965 legislation. The best thing I've read explaining what he did and how he did it was in the National Review several years ago. It also explains how he made sure the legislation contained language that resulted in chain migration, whereby you come here and are entitled to bring all of your relatives, one of the main ways our country lost control of immigration and turned it over to the immigrants. "Family reunification," as the system is called, has meant more illiterate, ill, mentally unstable immigrants have come here than any other country in history -- all eligible for American social programs, such as SSI. They have preference over educated, English speaking folks who just might contribute to our well being instead of being a drain or a danger. Back to the refugees: they get on a plane in, say, Timbuctu and tear up their passports and other identifying documents (many are fleeing the law. About five years ago, some in Congress wanted to make the airlines responsible for ensuring everyone had papers when they arrive, but the airline lobby defeated it). When these wretches get here, they claim refugee or asylee status, make up a name and country of origin, talk to an INS inspector for maybe three minutes and are let go with a piece of paper telling them to show up for a hearing six months later. The INS has no resources to track them, or to track them down. That's the last anyone knows about them, unless they, for instance, highjack an airplane. AdR

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