Control of Britain’s borders had been lost, a British judge said in a hearing on Friday. Judge Christopher Elwen’s comments, reported by the Telegraph, came after a hearing where four foreign nationals were accused of conspiring to commit “widespread disorder and destruction.” The disorder and destruction occurred during a riot at the Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Center near Heathrow airport at the end of November 2006.

Although the judge acquitted the four defendants—two Russians, an Egyptian and a Palestinian—he added, “In the last few years this country, perhaps for the first time since 1066, lost control of its borders and one of the unfortunate consequences of this has been the existence of detention centers such as Harmondsworth” (ibid.).

Borders are one of the most defining characteristics of the concept of a nation-state, along with such other basic notions as government, law and citizens.

Britain, which once expanded the borders of its empire around the globe, is now finding itself unable to effectively secure its own island home. In Libya alone, approximately 1 million migrants have massed, hoping to take advantage of the country’s crime rings to smuggle themselves into England.

Once in Britain, legal and illegal immigrants are slow to assimilate, preferring to stand out in their own cultural enclaves rather than become “British.” At the same time, British liberal thought encourages cultural fracturing in the name of diversity. The result, besides giant mosques in London, has been parallel cultures that actually push to break down and replace the established culture with their own. In fact, English has become a minority language in 1,300 of Britain’s schools and Mohammed has become the nation’s second-most popular baby name, beating out Thomas, Joshua and Oliver.

In pockets throughout Britain, Islamic sharia law is the unofficial law of the land. Although such laws and courts are officially unofficial, the Anglican archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has stated that sharia should be practiced simultaneously with English law.

With such identity-jeopardizing crises roiling within its uncontrolled borders, not to mention the nuclear and other dangers of illegal immigrants, and nation-killing threats coming from outside, Britain truly needs an identity reality check. For more on this subject, read The United States and Britain in Prophecy.