[URBAN NOTE] "Foreigners in London ‘Horrified’ by May’s Immigration Vision"

[rfmcdonald]

Bloomberg reports on how many immigrants in London are put off by the British government's new plans.

If Prime Minister Theresa May gets her way on immigration, Victor Villar says he might just leave London.

The 31-year-old Mexican portfolio analytics consultant is among the many foreigners in the City who are reeling from the government’s proposal to force companies to reveal how many non-British workers they hire as a way to push them to put natives first.

"If things get worse because they approve some anti-immigrant policies in parliament, I would definitely consider a job in the U.S. or somewhere else,” Villar, who has lived in the capital for 2 1/2 years, said in an interview. May’s plan is “like shooting yourself in your own foot because many people who come to work here are skilled workers with graduate degrees."

Home Secretary Amber Rudd this week proposed to punish banks and landlords who fail to make checks on foreigners doing business with them. It’s part of the government’s strategy to address public concerns about immigration that were laid bare by the U.K.’s vote to quit the European Union.

A YouGov poll on Wednesday of 5,875 adults found that 59 percent of people support those policies, showing that Rudd and May are in tune with voters. That is of little comfort to the swathes of foreign-born Londoners, many of whom have become naturalized British citizens. For some, there are parallels with pre-World War II Germany.