by Graham Tutthill

gtutthill@thekmgroup.co.uk

Television journalist and campaigner Esther Rantzen has spoken of the contribution immigrants can make to Britain, while acknowledging it’s not the same story for all of them.

Miss Rantzen was visiting the Dover Detainee Visitor Group when she spoke of her family’s roots and the fact that her great-great grandfather was an immigrant - legal or otherwise!

She spent some time talking to staff and volunteers at the group’s offices at Poulton Close, Dover, and having lunch with them, before going on to the Dover Immigration Removal Centre on the Western Heights to meet some of the detainees and the officers who guard them.

The visit was organised after Miss Rantzen met representatives from the visitor group at a befriending and mentoring awards ceremony, connected to ChildLine, and she was invited to come and see the work they were doing.

"Life was hard for my great-great grandfather and his family, but it was easier then to get into this country," she said. "So I and my family owe everything to Britain.

"We want the best for those who are persecuted, or come from backgrounds of unspeakable violence, torture and imprisonment.

"I think we underestimate the contribution that asylum sesekers and others are making.

"Many of them are not allowed to work, so they raise money for charity, paying back what they owe to this country."