Hermione and her parents Redux WAS: Re: Wizarding Top Ten

[montavilla47]

No: HPFGUIDX 188236

> Pippin:
> The DE's will find them when the Australians, who take a dim view of people entering their country illegally, deport them back to England.
> Voldemort doesn't have an army of agents looking for people who are  in Australia illegally. But the Australians do. Credentials are easy to fake, magically or otherwise. The trouble is, the police know that, so they look for other things. Nervousness, inconsistencies, all stuff that gives inexperienced liars away. Magical credentials won't solve that problem. 
> 
> Pippin

Montavilla47:

This is sort of beside the point, since Hermione doesn't mention
any worries about her parents being deported--but is Australia
especially harsh on immigrants from England?

I know in the U.S., we're pretty down on illegal immigration--but
we have a bit of a double standard about (as least, we did before
9/11--actually, it's probably worse now).

Immigrants who look Hispanic are much more likely to be 
scrutinized by immigration agents than those who look and 
sound European.  Someone who comes off a bus or train, or by 
car is going to be questioned.  Someone who arrives by airplane?  
Not so much (unless they look or sound Islamic).

I had a friend who married an Iranian woman so that she
could get a green card (long, long ago).  They had heard all the
stories about having to answer personal questions--so they
prepared.  But it wasn't necessary and she explained why to
me:  The Immigration Department didn't *care* if the marriage
was legitimate, because she was a skilled professional.  They
only really care if you going to be a drain on the social 
network or tempted into crime.

We are now less likely to turn a blind eye (judging from horror
stories of grieving widows being deported and so forth), but
I'm sure immigration agents still focus on unskilled, aliens from
hostile or poor countries, and not on respectable professionals
from England.

But maybe I'm missing something about the British/Aussie
dynamic?