THE lesson of violence in Northern Ireland is that the British government will give in to it, and so it has proved with the latest wave of racist rioting across mainly unionist areas.

Asking to be quoted as “government sources”, the Home Office has somewhat furtively briefed journalists about a crackdown on illegal immigration.

It claims it has already been cracking down but this will now “intensify” to “track down, detain, arrest and remove illegal immigrants from Northern Ireland”.

Immigration enforcement across the Common Travel Area has increased since 2024 but this focuses on tackling organised crime, such as people smuggling.

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Not much can be done about the smuggled people themselves as they become legal the instant they claim asylum. Being a victim of people smuggling can even assist with an asylum claim.

The suspect in Monday’s horrific attack in north Belfast claimed asylum on entry and was granted refugee status, entitling him to five years of lawful residence, after which he is entitled to apply for permanent settlement.

He could not have been returned to his home country of Sudan in any case as it is unsafe – all western countries have paused deportations there.

Most of the victims of this week’s violence appear to have been working immigrants who arrived in the UK lawfully and have presumably broken no immigration laws since.

So what does a crackdown on illegal immigrants mean in response to that violence?

Openness about the scale and nature of immigration might be a better first step to addressing social tensions. Furtive spin from the Home Office suggests that is not on the cards.

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The PSNI has been criticised for wrongly identifying the suspect in the north Belfast attack as from Somalia. Undue haste may have been spurred by Nigel Farage demanding the authorities “reveal the identity and status of the attacker immediately”.

Although the error was quickly corrected, it left Somalians in Belfast deeply alarmed.

Ironically, the policy of........

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