Shabana Mahmood’s parents arrived in Britain from Kashmir in the 1970s. The father of the home secretary(内政大臣) was a civil engineer and her mother ran the family shop. That generation of arrivals from the Commonwealth(英联邦) faced few barriers to(几乎没有什么障碍) permanent residence and citizenship.
沙巴纳·马哈茂德的父母于20世纪70年代从克什米尔来到英国。这位内政大臣的父亲是一名土木工程师，母亲则经营着家族店铺。那一代来自英联邦的移民在获得永久居留权和公民身份方面几乎没有什么障碍。
Immigrants to Britain today must pass tougher tests. On November 2nd Ms Mahmood announced changes to permanent residence, known as Indefinite Leave to Remain(无限期居留许可) (ILR), that will impact thousands of migrants on similar paths to her parents. Ms Mahmood backtracked(收回、改变立场) on her initial hardline(强硬的) proposals. Yet in trying to use ilR to do three things at once—deter migrants, improve integration and control costs—she risks achieving none at all.(然而，试图利用ILR同时实现三个目标——威慑移民、促进融合和控制成本——她可能一个都实现不了。)
如今来到英国的移民必须通过更严格的考验。11月2日，马哈茂德女士宣布了对永久居留权（即“无限期居留许可”，ILR）的修改，这将影响成千上万与她父母走类似路径的移民。马哈茂德女士收回了她最初强硬的提案。然而，试图利用ILR同时实现三个目标——威慑移民、促进融合和控制成本——她可能一个都实现不了。
The Labour government has played tough(摆出强硬姿态) on immigration since winning power in 2024. The tightening of visa rules helped cut net migration(净移民) from non-EU countries over the past three years from 1m to 350,000. However, under existing rules, nearly 2m migrants who arrived in 2020-24 were soon to be eligible to apply for ILR and the welfare benefits it confers.(然而，根据现行规则，2020至2024年间抵达的近200万移民很快就有资格申请ILR及其赋予的福利。) Ms Mahmood claimed that allowing them to do so would cost the country billions.
工党政府自2024年上台以来在移民问题上一直摆出强硬姿态。签证规则的收紧帮助将过去三年来自非欧盟国家的净移民从100万降至35万。然而，根据现行规则，2020至2024年间抵达的近200万移民很快就有资格申请ILR及其赋予的福利。马哈茂德女士声称，允许他们这样做将让国家付出数十亿英镑的代价。
