The privatisation of asylum control is already well advanced and developed, writes Jon Burnett. Campaigners must recognise this if effective challenges to the brutality that is embedded in the asylum process are to be posed.

Dawn raids are brutal, but they have emerged as a central facet of New Labour’s asylum and immigration policies. In 2006, 8,100 ‘enforcement operations’ were carried out before 8 am: an average of 22 dawn raids each day. John Burnett reports

While anti-terrorist legislation has been widely debated, less attention has been given to the government’s attempts to win the ‘hearts and minds’ of Muslim citizens, through the promotion of ‘moderate’ versions of Islam and the imposition of core values.