People fleeing conflict and persecution in Sri Lanka, Turkey and Somalia have found refuge in Britain since the 1980s. The BBC examines the power these diasporas are exerting on their homelands.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has denied reports police and immigration officers will be able to demand proof of ID from any UK citizen under proposed new laws.

An asylum seeker who fled her African homeland was awarded £38,000 damages in the High Court today for unlawful detention over a six-month period. In one of the largest awards of its kind, a judge ruled that Home Office immigration authorities mishandled her claim that she was tortured and raped.

llegal immigrants were caught trying to sneak into the UK hidden in a lorry of cat food bound for Northamptonshire. The 12 men - 10 Afghans and two Palestinians - were hiding in the load of tinned food when the lorry was stopped in Calais before it boarded a ferry.

Immigration officers who swooped on a Winchester restaurant found six illegal Bangladeshi workers on the premises. They were placed on immigration bail and procedures have been put in place to remove all six from the country.

The bill will introduce a new system whereby migrants will have to earn the right to stay, with progress slowed down if they don’t make an effort to integrate, or commit even minor crimes.

A flat has been searched in Newry and a man arrested as part of a major cross-border operation against human trafficking. Members of the PSNI, An Garda Siochana and police in Wales have been carrying out raids.