What's your thoughts on asylum seekers?

What does this have to do with asylum seekers?

I agree, it would be great if I could pick and choose which tax to pay and only pay for things I agree with and/or use personally

I’ve realised I’ve gotten confused between immigration and asylum seekers.

I mean that ones obvious! if we have a voluntary tax for that why not one for not paying for NHS if we use private healthcare; one for not paying for state schools if we dont have kids/go private, one for making sure we dont pay for healthcare smokers, dangerous sports, car drivers, one for not subsidising the dairy industry if we are vegan, one for not paying for war if we are pacifist etc etc. We are a society. We help us all.

This. Come on all you asylum seeking defenders, how about it?

I think I feel sorry for them.

I also think I pay tons in tax and all the public services are falling apart, the country is getting in more debt, and we shouldn't take any more in.

Anyone who wants to pay for them should have a voluntary opt-in higher tax rate. It's all very easy when you're spending other people's money.

Oh. I see. I think "millions" of refugees "arriving regularly" is exaggerating it just a tiny bit.

"Between 2004 and 2020, there were between 22,000 and 46,000 people claiming asylum in the UK each year. However, since the second half of 2021, there has been a noticeable increase, reaching a peak of almost 103,000 in the year ending March 2023"

www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-september-2024/how-many-people-claim-asylum-in-the-uk

1. disabled children already in the country should be afforded a school place
2. people already in the country waiting for their disability claim shouldn’t be waiting ages and be denied when it is over turned by tribunal in the end
3. people already in the country who have been on waiting lists for housing should get affordable council housing
4. People already in the country should have access to the amenities and be able to get regular GP appointments and healthcare
5. People already in the country should get to live in safe places without antisocial behaviour, with enough money to live on that’s not just existing

There is a new (I think channel 4) programme coming soon that takes the "get these asylum seekers out" people and takes them to some of the countries to see how it is and what they are fleeing from. Very interested to watch that.

I think, in general, immigration is inevitable because of modern transport.
Any and all immigration restrictions are a desperate rear guard action against that.

We have an obligation under international law to take in refugees and because of that we have to have an asylum system to work out which ones are genuine.
The asylum system as a whole is much harsher than most people realise.

But, if immigration by other means is restricted then people will use the processes open to them. And yes, that includes people who are economic migrants rather than refugees (although the distinction is blurrier than you might think).

In my opinion there's a few things that can be done better:

1. Much faster initial decisions on asylum claims (don't leave people hanging around in limbo for ever)
2. Asylum seekers should be housed in ordinary council housing. Not prison ships, not old office blocks, not shitty private accommodation outsourced to some facilities management company. Large groups of socially excluded young men hanging about in one place is not great- as PP have pointed out.
3. Asylum seekers should be housed in areas with enough housing and services for them. Dispersal to Glasgow actually worked really well when 50% of its housing stock was social housing. Then became more of a problem when the largest housing association started demolishing its stock. Now there are predictable tensions over resources.
4. Point 3 depends on improving housing and public services across the board. For native population and newcomers. That needs to happen anyway; immigration or not.
5. Put some effort into facilitating integration. People integrate better when they have enough money, something productive to do and when they live among the native population, not in ghettos. And on top of that, specific services like ESOL.
6. Have a think about things which are likely to cause tensions and plan not to do them. I know of a tower block where all the tenants were decanted (whether that's what they wanted or not), told that the block would be demolished. Later on the block was refitted and let out as asylum seeker accommodation. It was done thoughtlessly to deal with an intimidate crisis. But what does that look like to the people who were moved out?! If you were trying to create racial tensions on purpose you couldn't have done better.
7. More effort and resources into people smuggling gangs. Noone should be drowning to death in the English channel.

Are you joking? There are entire towns of refugees being housed in the UK

The UK has created a lot of these asylum seekers by meddling in other countries.

I was all 'kum-bah-yah' about asylum seekers until the council housed a bunch in my local town. Suddenly, street corners were filled with groups of African and Middle Eastern men in their early 20s in hoodies hissing under their breath as they leered at 12 year old school girls in uniform as they had to step into the road to get past these groups.

Nope.

People should recognised by now the standard answers of the people invested in protecting and defending the indefensible.
I personally have seen and heard enough and lived through the changes for worse and reasons in this country. I really do not need a bunch of agenda pushers to tell me what is really happening.

The problem in this country is that 'refugees' are conflated with 'illegal migrants.' When the Daily Mail rants on about people taking advantage of us, they rarely mention Indian nationals, for example (our biggest legal migrant group for work and study, according to ONS).

The UK is one of the few countries in Europe not to use ID cards, and this makes it easier for the black economy to flourish, which is where a lot of people go. If we are serious about cracking down on illegal migration and people trafficking, we need to:
a) Set up a processing centre at Calais. Stop the sea deaths
b) Give border control more resources. It's not fair to ask people to put their life on hold for years while their claim is processed
c) Introduce ID cards.

This all takes money and time, which is why it gets ignored.

Most refugees stay local, which makes sense as the language and climate will be similar, it's safer, and there is less travelling involved. If England were torn apart in a civil war, I would more likely flee to Wales or Ireland than to Eastern Europe. Turkey and Iran host massive amounts of refugees from Syria and Afghanistan for that reason.

People should recognised by now the standard answers of the people invested in protecting and defending the indefensible.
I personally have seen and heard enough and lived through the changes for worse and reasons in this country. I really do not need a bunch of agenda pushers to tell me what is really happening.