A senior judge faces the sack after saying that 'hundreds of thousands of immigrants' come to Britain to receive generous welfare payments.
Judge Ian Trigger was told yesterday that a disciplinary inquiry is to look at whether his criticisms of the links between crime, large-scale immigration and the welfare system were 'too political'.
The 65-year-old Crown Court judge, who has also served on immigration tribunals for just over a decade, made his remarks as he jailed an illegal immigrant and drug runner last month.
Discipline action: Lord Trigger (left) has landed in hot water with Lord Judge (right) after he said in court that illegal immigrants were in Britain to leach off the generous welfare system
The official investigation has been ordered by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, who has the power, along with Justice Secretary Jack Straw, to dismiss judges who speak out of turn.
But the decision to put the case before the Office for Judicial Complaints (OJC) was attacked yesterday, with some critics claiming it threatens the right of anyone to speak out about immigration.
Sir Andrew Green, chairman of the Migrationwatch pressure group, said: 'There is a great deal of concern, privately expressed, in many parts of the judiciary,
the number of failed asylum-seekers.
'There ought to be some way in which those concerns can be expressed without infringing judicial guidelines.'
Robert Whelan, of the Civitas think-tank, said: 'This reinforces the view that there are certain things that may not be expressed in this country any more. There are great fears for freedom of speech.'
Judge Trigger made his remarks last week as he jailed a Jamaican man, Lucien McClearley, for two years for drugs offences at Liverpool Crown Court.
Lord Trigger graphic
The 31-year-old illegal immigrant was arrested after being caught with more than ?7,200 worth of cannabis, a gram of cocaine and a fake passport.
He arrived in Britain on a visitor's visa in November 2001 but claimed asylum when it ran out the following October.
The court heard how he then 'disappeared from the radar of the authorities'.
Judge Trigger said the case illustrated how a 'lax' immigration policy had led to 'hundreds and hundreds of thousands' of immigrants arriving in Britain to claim generous welfare benefits.
And he warned that wasted welfare payments had helped double the national debt, with the burden falling on decent hard-working citizens.
Yesterday, a spokesman for the OJC said that the inquiry would consider whether Judge Trigger's remarks 'went beyond the facts of the case and extended overtly into the political arena'.
The OJC states that if a judge uses 'insulting, racist or sexist language' it amounts to misconduct.
Judges are given much firmer guidelines as to what they can and cannot say in court by the body set up to train judges, the Judicial Studies Board, in its 'Equal Treatment Bench Book'.
The book, which contains detailed advice on correct language and opinions, tells judges they should avoid the term 'asylum seeker' because it is 'almost pejorative' and that the word immigrant is 'excluaboutsionary and likely to offend'.
A spokesman for the OJC said last night that the referral of Judge Trigger for investigation 'is not related to the judge's comments on the specific case or the sentence passed'.
The body received 178 complaints about 'inappropriate behaviour or comments' by
judges last year, with only one senior judge subject to disciplinary action.
Judge Trigger has already made a number of controversial comments in court. During one 1997 case, he criticised single parents, claiming the defendant had 'lacked structure and stability' in his life.
And last year, he said Britain was 'bedevilled by wild feral youths' in a case in which a teenager had committed a violent attack while on bail.
Philip Davies, Tory MP for Shipley, said: 'I would be appalled if this judge were to face disciplinary action.
'We should be thanking him for drawing attention to the problems caused by the shambolic immigration system.
'It is the Lord Chief Justice who is acting in a political way by calling for an inquiry.'
Judge Ian Trigger was told yesterday that a disciplinary inquiry is to look at whether his criticisms of the links between crime, large-scale immigration and the welfare system were 'too political'.
The 65-year-old Crown Court judge, who has also served on immigration tribunals for just over a decade, made his remarks as he jailed an illegal immigrant and drug runner last month.
Discipline action: Lord Trigger (left) has landed in hot water with Lord Judge (right) after he said in court that illegal immigrants were in Britain to leach off the generous welfare system
The official investigation has been ordered by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, who has the power, along with Justice Secretary Jack Straw, to dismiss judges who speak out of turn.
But the decision to put the case before the Office for Judicial Complaints (OJC) was attacked yesterday, with some critics claiming it threatens the right of anyone to speak out about immigration.
Sir Andrew Green, chairman of the Migrationwatch pressure group, said: 'There is a great deal of concern, privately expressed, in many parts of the judiciary,
the number of failed asylum-seekers.
'There ought to be some way in which those concerns can be expressed without infringing judicial guidelines.'
Robert Whelan, of the Civitas think-tank, said: 'This reinforces the view that there are certain things that may not be expressed in this country any more. There are great fears for freedom of speech.'
Judge Trigger made his remarks last week as he jailed a Jamaican man, Lucien McClearley, for two years for drugs offences at Liverpool Crown Court.
Lord Trigger graphic
The 31-year-old illegal immigrant was arrested after being caught with more than ?7,200 worth of cannabis, a gram of cocaine and a fake passport.
He arrived in Britain on a visitor's visa in November 2001 but claimed asylum when it ran out the following October.
The court heard how he then 'disappeared from the radar of the authorities'.
Judge Trigger said the case illustrated how a 'lax' immigration policy had led to 'hundreds and hundreds of thousands' of immigrants arriving in Britain to claim generous welfare benefits.
And he warned that wasted welfare payments had helped double the national debt, with the burden falling on decent hard-working citizens.
Yesterday, a spokesman for the OJC said that the inquiry would consider whether Judge Trigger's remarks 'went beyond the facts of the case and extended overtly into the political arena'.
The OJC states that if a judge uses 'insulting, racist or sexist language' it amounts to misconduct.
Judges are given much firmer guidelines as to what they can and cannot say in court by the body set up to train judges, the Judicial Studies Board, in its 'Equal Treatment Bench Book'.
The book, which contains detailed advice on correct language and opinions, tells judges they should avoid the term 'asylum seeker' because it is 'almost pejorative' and that the word immigrant is 'excluaboutsionary and likely to offend'.
A spokesman for the OJC said last night that the referral of Judge Trigger for investigation 'is not related to the judge's comments on the specific case or the sentence passed'.
The body received 178 complaints about 'inappropriate behaviour or comments' by
judges last year, with only one senior judge subject to disciplinary action.
Judge Trigger has already made a number of controversial comments in court. During one 1997 case, he criticised single parents, claiming the defendant had 'lacked structure and stability' in his life.
And last year, he said Britain was 'bedevilled by wild feral youths' in a case in which a teenager had committed a violent attack while on bail.
Philip Davies, Tory MP for Shipley, said: 'I would be appalled if this judge were to face disciplinary action.
'We should be thanking him for drawing attention to the problems caused by the shambolic immigration system.
'It is the Lord Chief Justice who is acting in a political way by calling for an inquiry.'
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