Labour have been have been accused of “dog whistle politics” and pandering to racists over plans to publish the nationalities of foreign criminals.
Home secretary Yvette Cooper is set to confirm that the data will be released by the end of the year.
It comes after ministers came under pressure from the Conservatives and Reform UK.
A Home Office source said: “Any foreign national who abuses our country’s hospitality and commits serious crimes should be in no doubt that they will face the full force of the law, and be removed from the UK at the earliest opportunity.
“But we also want to ensure the public is kept better informed about the number of foreign criminals awaiting deportation, where they are from and the crimes they have committed.”
But charities and campaigners contacted by HuffPost UK have hit out at the government move, which they said risks scapegoating immigrants by linking them to criminal behaviour.
Fizza Qureshi, chief executive of the Migrants’ Rights Network, said: “There is no rationale for publicising foreign national offenders’ nationalities bar it being a blatant exercise in scapegoating and to appear tough on migration.
“The criminal justice system, policing and immigration systems are infamously racist and disproportionately impact racialised people. Attempts to manufacture a link between nationalities and criminality only serves to deepen prejudice and discrimination towards migrants from certain countries.
“Linking the nationality, ethnicity and immigration status with crime is nothing more than dog-whistle politics, which is incredibly irresponsible in the aftermath of last summer’s racist riots.”
James Wilson, director of Detention Action, said: “It is unclear what the government hopes to achieve by publishing this data in this way, but the dangers are very clear.
“Less than a year after the anti-asylum riots, the government risks feeding further division, dehumanisation and prejudice in our communities. It is the role of the criminal justice system to prosecute individuals, not whole communities.”
Independent migrants rights campaigner Zoe Gardner said: “In recent months, there has been a clear campaign from some media outlets, commentators and politicians to smear migrants as criminals and falsely draw links between ethnicity or religion and crime.
“In every generation, a group of migrants is targeted by these dangerous, racist lies -– it happened to Jewish immigrants in the early 20th century, and to Commonwealth immigrants after the Second World War.
“Now the same lies, intended to provoke the same violence, is being spread about asylum seekers and Muslims in particular. The real driver of crime is social deprivation, not faith, skin colour or where a person happens to have been born.
“The government’s decision is a simple capitulation to the rising tide of racism.
“We need an immigration system that respects fundamental rights, prevents drownings in the Channel, brings to the UK the people we so desperately need safely, and facilitates their integration, so that we can all live in communities where we know and trust our neighbours.
“This is a cowardly step in the wrong direction that will only fuel more division and hate.”
But shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick welcomed the news, saying: “We will finally see the hard reality that mass migration is fuelling crime across our country.”
He added: “Frankly, the public deserved to know this long ago.”
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