"Immigrant" - a racial slur in Britain?

Vijay Dutt:

The Court of Appeal recently ruled that using the word 'immigrant' could justify treating an assault as racially aggravated. The court decided that a judge should not have thrown out a charge of racially aggravated assault against a woman who attacked an Indian GP after referring him as 'an immigrant doctor'.

Judge Breen at Luton Crown Court had decided in January that the word 'immigrant' did not meet the definition in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. Under it, an offence is racially aggravated if the offender demonstrates hostility based on the victim's membership of a race group.

The appellate court was told that the defendant Mrs D took her three-year-old son who had a rash to the surgery of Dr. Hari Newal. He told her she should come back if the symptoms developed. When Mrs D demanded a diagnosis, he suggested she find another doctor.

She had retorted, "I can't find another doctor. All the good doctors are taken up by asylum seekers and I am left with an immigrant doctor." She then tried to snatch her son's medical records. In the struggle, Dr Newal received scratches on his head.

Bizarre.