Crabby, I also struggle to understand the labelling of anyone not white as illegals, asylum seekers etc. I was with my friend when she was asked, quite aggressively, where she was from. In her best Sheffield accent she told him! A woman who is ethnically 50% English, and culturally 100% Yorkshire! She'd be happy with an ID card too.
She's a classy lady, well dressed, well educated, yet some low life, hard of thinking types think its ok to abuse her and others simply because they see brown = foreign.