To think most peoole are racist and scared of " other%."

[malificent7]

Judging by the conversations I overheard about the election today. It was all " stop the boats" and the uk is too attractive a place to live coz benefits 😂"
No wonder Farage is so poular and La Penn is gauning traction in France.

It's pointless telking oeoplat immigrants have a great work ethic generally and that the UK should be an attractive pkace to live and that the UK raped and colonised the world etc.

We grant for over 60% so that will not be a disincentive and already isn’t

Processing faster will encourage traffickers to sell greater numbers to that country. It’s an easier sell

@EasternStandard percentage of granted asylum claims varies by year and depends on country of origin. Highest number of asylum claims in 2023 from Afghanistan- hence granted. Recognition of claims for asylum from this country would be similar across most of the EU. We are not an outlier in this respect or a soft touch. More asylum seekers settle in Europe anyway. If we get claims processing working then we can in many cases return people where they come from a safe country. Small boats is an issue I agree. However it is not the biggest immigration issue, it has become a convenient dog whistle.

Anyone applying from Hong Kong already has to be a British National overseas. They also have to pay an NHS supplement and have enough money to support themselves and any dependants for six months. As a minority group they commit the least crime of all. They also top leader boards along with Indian children by exam results in the UK.

My family are from Hong Kong but they came over in the 1960’s. Current HK immigration is very different to other types as subject to very specific regulation. I do not like how all immigrants are lumped together as a homogeneous mass.

Well unless a politician is stood in the water with a big fan to make enough wind to turn the boats back how on earth and politics stop them?

Exactly. It's maths, not racism. It would be the same issue if every ex-pat decided to return.

The ‘dog whistle’ knee jerk response might need to be hung up to dry in the next few years. You are seeing a rise in far right in EU and Reform here due to an inability to look at the issue realistically.

IMO it’s better to view traffickers as very good at sales and ask what would make it easier for them to sell?

Faster processing is good for sales, as is no deterrent. If they were on the stock market as pp suggested they would be seeing a decent bump for UK related right about now

I agree with this. It’s the classification into ‘good migrant’ or ‘bad migrant’ based on how they are able to get here that tends towards racist.

This !
If anyone really thinks that our services are crumbling because of 40k illegal immigrants , who incidentally tend to not use these services much because they are not able to provide ID or documentation to access them, then those people need to give their head a wobble

@EasternStandard it’s far from a knee jerk response, it’s based on 20 years working in the field. It is stagnation in the system that is an easy sell not fast processing. If fast processing was the carrot for gangs to sell then why are there so many small boats at the moment - when there’s virtually no processing happening at all? Speed up processing you can facilitate returns on a case by case basis to many places like Albania, parts of South East Asia and South America. Then ultimately you will have to accept that a portion of your asylum claims are valid and allow these people to stay and work. There is no way around this and it is the same across Europe and the Middle East because of wars and climate change. You could offset the overall numbers by reducing legal migration routes. Asylum seekers are currently around 6% of total immigration.

Well we’ll see if increasing trafficking as part of migration figures goes well with the electorate

But yes it’s high with slow processing. Traffickers can sell more easily to the U.K. if they can add you won’t wait as long as other countries to be processed. That’s fairly straight forward as a sell.

I can see if you work in the field you may feel it’s working well but going by political shifts in EU etc you’ll probably feel increasingly at odds with others

Also it’s useful to remember traffickers sell by country on social media

The easier you are the higher the prominence of that

Quite.

I do wish people would do some research before posting this type of crap

Most temporary migrants have no recourse to public funds, with human rights exceptions
Under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, people who do not have any immigration permission or whose visa comes with an individual NRPF condition are excluded from benefits and housing. An NRPF condition is mandatory for most types of visa.

Illegal immigrants aren’t entitled to public funds. Asylum seekers ( so those applying through legal channels) may be entitled to SOME support during the ridiculously long ( like 5 years ) process. If the home office was properly funded and adequately staffed this might mean genuine asylum seekers would be processed quicker . I’ve worked with genuine asylum seekers, who’ve suffered unimaginable things and are in genuine fear of their life if they return, who were solely funded by charities.

The state of public services isn't down to immigration 🙄

You seem to have a limited understanding of what "discrimination" means. I am not "discriminating" against anyone.

Am I judging Reform voters? Yes, absolutely. I consider them to be amongst the lowest of the low.

My evidence? The fact that they are saying that they vote for a racist, misogynist party with racist, misogynist candidates and a racist, misogynist leader is enough.

In a democracy, we respect the fact that people have the right to hold repugnant and ill-informed opinions, but there is absolutely no obligation to respect those opinions or the people who hold them. Only their right to hold them.

I am not trying to obstruct that democratic process in any way. If the racists and misogynists want to vote for Reform, then that is their democratic right to do so and I accept that. However, there is no requirement on me to pretend that I believe that they are in any way decent, reasonable people. Clearly they are not.

If most people think like that why are Labour set to return a massive majority?

I know no one who thinks like that. They’d be ashamed of themselves

@EasternStandard i don’t think it’s working well. I didn’t say that at any point. I said a) our rate of acceptance of asylum claims from key countries is the same as in Europe and b) if you process claims efficiently you can remove some people - currently not really happening.

The far right movement across Europe is not just. reaction to people claiming asylum. In part it’s economic stagnation and also changing demographics. I mentioned this in my first post - Farage’s talk of people on the Palestine marches who ‘don’t share our values’. You can believe this if you want, but it’s a separate issue. Here he is talking about members of UK communities - second and third generations- not people who have just stepped off a boat. Complex issues across Europe relating to the movement of people, the gradual changing of cultures. Won’t be fixed by Stop the Boats. Oversimplification, scapegoating is dangerous.

Trafficking and movement of people is bigger than a small issue and I’d say one that will cause more political struggle unless politicians address it realistically. More so now as climate pressures start to impact. It will be one of the hardest things societies will need to resolve or deal with.

A party such as Reform does capitalise on other things but their primary point is getting traction due to this issue

As a point of difference Aus has tackled the issue but from the Liberal party which is not Reform equivalent. It can be done but not with the level of conversation given to it, which doesn’t go much past ‘dog whistle’ from some.

You will not stop growing unrest / dissatisfaction over this with that line.

I think it depends how you define trafficking .. there are obviously gangs operating the boats and asylum seekers are paying them for passage. Then there are those who are trafficked to the UK and are essentially 'bought' by someone in the UK to use in sex work or other types of slave labour. This, for me, is the side of trafficking that really needs to be dealt with incredibly harshly. Of course there's cross over, but for those operating the boats, if you get rid of one group, who operate mainly outside of the UK - more will spring up to take their place.

Yes, more people could end up coming to the UK via boats in a way that is not sustainable, but that is almost certainly going to be directly linked to insecurity, war and climate change in other countries. One way of trying to prevent an increase in boat crossings is to increase our international aid budget so that refugees and others can be given support in other countries before they try and get to Europe / the UK. But many people (often those who want to clamp down hard on immigration) want to slash the international aid budget. The reality is that instability in eastern Europe and the middle east will always drive asylum seekers to the UK unless we can find ways to assist them earlier.

‘Dog whistle’ relates to saying some immigrants = good, some= bad, not the topic of immigration as a whole, which isn’t small, and which I didn’t say was small. Also again, it’s not trafficking. I don’t think you are really reading anything you respond to, so I will leave it there.

I don’t think you’ll find much that doesn’t describe trafficking networks as such, even if people pay. Which isn’t out of place to what I’ve been saying anyway as it’s about sales as a priority.

It may be voluntary payment for many but they are still trafficking networks.

And pretty soon they will be able to sell more and get greater profits. And I’d say you’ll see greater unrest due to that.

if you get rid of one group, who operate mainly outside of the UK - more will spring up to take their place.

Yes if you get rid of one another will take their place hence the issue with ‘smash the gangs’ policy and why it will see an uplift

Although we won’t be able to resolve the issues via aid to stop people if that’s the main approach

this is why Farage and co are so popular. Stop reading the shite in the daily mail and populist soundbites.

There is plenty of money - its just not spent on the little people.

Why do people lock their doors at night or when they go out? To stop anyone just coming in and making free with your food/possessions. We like to know who we are letting into our homes. Are they potentially going to cause me harm? Will they respect my possessions and the way I conduct my life. Will they improve my life in some way, or at the very least not make It worse for me? It is the same with the country. Nothing to do with what colour they are or where they come from.

Many people are racist, yes. I don’t know about most. There is a some absolutely vile antisemitism from members of the Labour Party for example.

your comments about immigrants seem like a bit of a racist generalization too. People are just people- some are lazy some are not.