  A BBC News
extract on ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTSUnder
the plans, members
of the public will - for the first time - be able to report illegal
workers and
illegal immigrants using the free Crimestoppers telephone line from 1 January
2007.
The
government has already said it was
doubling the budget for deportations to nearly £300m, and a bill
tackling
deportations was included in last week's Queen's Speech.
And
ministers intend
to create 650 extra detention spaces for illegal immigrants by the end
of 2007.
The
measures are seen as a response to criticism from political opponents
about
a perceived failure to deport enough of those identified as being in
the UK
illegally.
There
were
nearly 5,000 deportations in the last three-month period for which
figures were
available - a record - but it estimated that 500,000 people remain in
the UK
illegally.
The
idea of
penalising businesses did not find favour with the Immigration Advisory
Service, which said firms would become "reluctant to recruit
anybody".
"I'm fearful that's
going to lead to
discrimination against
anybody who looks as though they might be a foreigner," chief
executive
Keith Best told BBC Radio Five Live in Novenber 2006.
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