Page 8 | To think the anti-immigrations have BEEN "heard"?

Scandiviews1 · 07/08/2024 08:57

Happyearlyretirement · 07/08/2024 08:53

Well said, although the rioting types really aren’t capable of a caring roll.

Show quote history

The mind boggles at the thought of a "caring roll"...

Snorrrring · 07/08/2024 08:58

Happyearlyretirement · 07/08/2024 08:53

Well said, although the rioting types really aren’t capable of a caring roll.

Show quote history

And no one wants to hire anyone whose response to a difficult situation is violence - these thugs are damaged goods, who would want them in any workplace, they are the dead weight that's destroying this country - that's the irony.

WhysEverythingABallAche · 07/08/2024 08:58

*HermioneWeasley · Today 06:20
I am an immigrant. My parents came here from the Middle East when I was a child. We are all fully integrated. I have concerns about current immigration and behaviour of immigrant communities. I see radical Islam, the same poison my family came here to escape, becoming more and more powerful across Europe. I see people chanting “from the river to the sea” on the streets of our cities every week. I see blasphemy laws being introduced by stealth as that poor teacher from Batley is still in hiding in fear for his life.

I am not out rioting. I am lucky that I am pale skinned enough that I don’t get abuse on the streets and I am not a hijabi so don’t stand out in that way. I am worried sick for my many obviously foreign friends and their families.

But I don’t feel my concerns about immigration and integration have been heard, no.*

Someone who is an immigrant to our country, saying their concerns about the uncontrolled, unproductive, non integrating immigration are not being heard.

What a brilliant post. Even people coming to live here are saying what on earth are you doing, it’s a mess.

Sitdownrosa · 07/08/2024 08:59

Gogogo12345 · 07/08/2024 08:45

Make the rule that anyone who rocks up on a boat/ back f lorry without documentation is an automatic refusal to stay. No exceptions.

People won't be paying traffickers if there's zero chance of it working

Show quote history

The traffickers have their money by that point. They couldn't give a shit. The traffickers will still keep trafficking. They'll be lying to people and telling them that all they need to do is get on the boat and they'll be safe. They literally couldn't give a fuck if that person makes it safely to the UK.

You ever seen one of these boats in real life?

I have. It was full of women and very small children. A few men. I used to be one of those who would be asking why we have to take people who don't come here legally, asylum seeker or not. Get on a plane, do it properly, don't hang onto the bottom of a lorry or get on a dinghy.

When i saw that boat, I wondered how desperate as a mother you would need to be to put your tiny child into a rubber dinghy to float across one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world? That the alternative is worse? That this is literally the only option they feel they have? How will you get a plane ticket if you've lost it never had a passport? I defy anyone to look at a boat full of desperate women with their babies and tell them "fuck off, we're full". Instantly changed my mind about the whole thing. Who am i to tell that mother not to do what she feels she needs to to keep her baby safe?

The uk has an obligation to take asylum seekers so we can't just say, we are an island, not our problem. So some asylum seekers will end up here but the tories closed all legal, safe avenues. Which forces desperate people to get on the boat. So that's one way to stop the boats - allow people to start a uk asylum claim from the camp in France. Then they don't need to get on the boat and risk their 2 year olds life.

Sd352 · 07/08/2024 08:59

I have lived in this country for just under 10 years and paid in literally millions in taxes. Have not used state schools, have not used NHS beyond COVID vaccines and cervical cancer screenings. But this thread, and others like it on mumsnet, and the riots are giving me a clear message — there are many in this country who would gladly live off my taxes but would really rather that I not be here. And it absolutely is about race. I doubt very much that my white American or Australian colleagues are getting the same message.

But that’s all consistent with what Winston Churchill, a hero for most Brit’s, thought of people who look like me. Fair game for colonising and exploiting but you shouldn’t have to see the likes of us sullying your mountains green and pleasant pastures.

Need to work on convincing my white English husband to move away from here if this type of invective continues.

CosmicDaisyChain · 07/08/2024 09:00

Forestgreen19 · 07/08/2024 08:03

I’ll taking your “where the fuck are we putting them”? as a genuine question, that you would actually like to know the answer to.

Most people arriving by boats will go on to claim asylum (93%). Seeking asylum is a basic human right enshrined in international law. The UK cannot refuse to take asylum seekers. The UK takes a below average number of asylum applications, ranking only 19th among EU countries in 2022.

After arrival, Asylum seekers are dispersed around the UK for housing. I have some experience with young asylum seekers, some of whom arrive on boats. Social services houses groups of 15, 16, 17, 18-year-old unaccompanied asylum seeking children in group homes, with no live-in adult. They are then left largely to their own devices, apart from a social worker paying odd visits. They have to navigate a new country, education, cooking for themselves. They have to stay out of trouble, as even a small misdemeanour like getting in a fight will jeopardise their asylum claim. Would you like your 16 year old to live in those kinds of conditions? That is one of the places “where the fuck they’re being put”.

Once asylum seekers have their refugee status granted, they become tax payers. Same as you or me. If their claim is refused, they are sent back. Either way, they do not stay a “burden” for long. Even less time if the government would sort out the huge backlog on claims. The Tories fucked that up.

God, I wish people would focus half as much of their energy on solving the issues within their OWN communities - poor education, unemployment, bad behaviour, rioting, drink, drugs, lack of ambition in white British communities - as they do focusing on asylum seekers and immigrants.

Show quote history

A not insignificant amount of failed asylum seekers are still in the country years later often committing serious crime after endless failed appeal after appeal but don’t get removed.

Sitdownrosa · 07/08/2024 09:01

WhysEverythingABallAche · 07/08/2024 08:51

Where do you stand on brits that do the same in France/Spain?

I can answer this with my own example. I lived and worked in Spain for a year. I studied it at night school and off my own back for 2 years before I went there, and was fluent within a year. I married a Spaniard. I worked and paid taxes. If you can’t speak the language, and you don’t integrate, and pay taxes, you shouldn’t be welcome there.

When you moved abroad 4 times, did you learn the language fluently, live among local people, fully assimilate into the local area?

2 other countries were English speaking, but not ethnically white countries. To work there I had to have a degree, earn over a certain amount and have Medical’s to prove I healthy. I worked and socialised with the locals and the other immigrants from all over the world. My DC went to a local school and learnt 2 other languages which where the 2nd and 3rd most popular spoken ones in the country. My DCs best friends were locals, Indian, American, Malaysian.

When my DH’s contract ended in one country, we had 3 months to leave, unless he found another. No benefits, nothing. I grew tired of the culture of the last place I lived and felt my DC would have had problems when older as 3rd culture kids, so I came back here. Being a 3rd culture child is an issue for many.

One of the things I was always conscious of when I lived overseas was that I was a “guest” in their country. If you weren’t born in the UK, you are a guest here and you should respect the people and culture.

What does it mean to respect the UK culture?

Lopine · 07/08/2024 09:01

Catza · 07/08/2024 08:36

Because it is a stupid thing to do and any civil servant understands that.
For example, following Brexit, there has been negative net EU migration. Each year fewer EU nationals coming in and more of them leave. Good news, right?
Except that there is a high proportion of EU workers in the NHS. They left, vacancies became available. We don’t have enough qualified “natives” to fill these vacancies and it takes 3+ years for a nurse or AHP to become qualified and 5+ years for a doctor.
How are we going to fill the vacancies if we are no longer able to attract EU nationals? By doing a recruitment call in non-EU countries and offering generous relocation packages to nurses from Philippines, Nigeria etc. The non-eu migration therefore increase. It has to.
When you have a 24 month wait for a specialist, why do you think it is? Because there are no new hospitals? No, it’s because there are no staff to work in these hospitals. I worked in services which had open vacancies for 3+ years for a qualified nurse. Couldn’t recruit. There were no people qualified and willing to take up the job.
So yes, I think people have been heard loud and clear. Unfortunately there is nobody in the government with enough chutzpah to tell people they are being stupid.

Show quote history

I agree with all you have written.

The other route is to train people who already live here to fill those roles. But…

This takes time - a lot of time, and in the meantime the gaps in the workforce remain or worsen.

It costs money - taxes would need to rise to pay for more training places.

The demographics of the UK mean that there is not a large enough pool of young people with the aptitude and motivation to train in these professions to fill all of the gaps.

We should be creating more training places, and reducing the barriers such as high university fees for courses, where there are shortages. Maybe a tuition fee free medical, nursing, degree but you must work for the NHS for x years on graduation.

And in the meantime we should be grateful for skilled immigrants who are helping keep the NHS functioning.

Scandiviews1 · 07/08/2024 09:02

Sd352 · 07/08/2024 08:59

I have lived in this country for just under 10 years and paid in literally millions in taxes. Have not used state schools, have not used NHS beyond COVID vaccines and cervical cancer screenings. But this thread, and others like it on mumsnet, and the riots are giving me a clear message — there are many in this country who would gladly live off my taxes but would really rather that I not be here. And it absolutely is about race. I doubt very much that my white American or Australian colleagues are getting the same message.

But that’s all consistent with what Winston Churchill, a hero for most Brit’s, thought of people who look like me. Fair game for colonising and exploiting but you shouldn’t have to see the likes of us sullying your mountains green and pleasant pastures.

Need to work on convincing my white English husband to move away from here if this type of invective continues.

I don't think that's true from this thread. I think it's the people that are absorbing the country's resources without having made or will make a positive contribution to it. I don't see any comments on this thread objecting to other sorts of immigration.

Sd352 · 07/08/2024 09:03

@Scandiviews1 pretty sure a lot of the posts and protesters make no such distinction

Kriscross · 07/08/2024 09:05

SD1978 · 07/08/2024 03:17

For me- and I'm not involved in rioting or condone it. The numbers may be small, but over £6 million a day is spent on housing approximately 45,000 people......with everything economically going on, with everything the government says it needs to cut back on, hearing those figures makes things difficult for me if I'm honest. They could be seen as a trigger point, but I beleive the ire is being directed the wrong way. This is from the government report, showing the amounts spent on UK citizens is significantly less per head.

The Government&rsquo;s impact assessment of the Illegal Migration Act 2023 estimated that the total cost of providing public services to a UK national is around &pound;12,000 per person. Even the most basic calculations put the economic burden on the British taxpayer of an illegal migration population of 1.2 million at &pound;14.4 billion. That is just shy of 10% of NHS England&rsquo;s budget for this year.

The rioting is wrong and they are thugs.

However when people are struggling and they hear £6,000,000 a day spent housing asylum seekers/immigrants that's a lot if money that could be used for other things. That's nearly £2.2 BILLION a year merely housing, feeding etc. The problem is rip off hotels etc making huge money housing these people. That's a lot of money

Catza · 07/08/2024 09:05

Gogogo12345 · 07/08/2024 08:30

If immigration was treated the same as a job interview then there would be far less issues like this. For example the interview goes " what can you offer us?" Person then states their skills. Do you think you would be a " good fit in the team?" As in sharing the same ethics. . That sort of thing. No matter what country you come from or colour of your skin.

How many other worldwide countries would let British people just rock up and provide housing and food allowance? As an example I am thinking about retiring in Thailand. I can't just show up there and gain anything from the Thai govt. Have to get visa proving income/ capital, but health insurance and register at the immigration office every 90 days. New Zealand is difficult to emigrate to full stop. There you and your kids are checked for health issues so you are less likely to be a drain on their health system. And the USA don't want anyone unless they can make them lots of money.

You seem to be confusing immigrants and asylum seekers (AGAIN). If you were fleeing Britain as unsafe country and applied for asylum in a country which was part of the refugee convention then you would be provided with exactly the same benefits.
As an immigrant to Britain (not an asylum seeker) I did not get housing and food allowance. In fact, aside from healthcare (which is not free, I pay tax for it) I got no state support whatsoever in 25 years I’ve lived here.

caringcarer · 07/08/2024 09:07

dropoutin · 07/08/2024 01:40

I posted something like this on one of the riot threads but it ws locked soon after.

Is anyone else getting really bored of people justifying racism, terror, violence and destruction by insisting how important it is that those who imagine asylum seekers are responsible for the country's problem are "heard".

Little reminder: It's exactly that particular obsession that led to the Brexit referendum in 2016, and the most radical - and destructive - political change of recent times.

There were several years in which the country barely discussed anything else. Farage and Johnson got to tell you in great detail how the reason you're poor is because of the black family down the road. And you got the choice of believing them, or not. You even got to make Johnson PM so he could "get Brexit done" and "level up" your community.

You've been taken for a ride. Asylum seekers rriving irregularly (via small boats etc) make up less than 5% of total immigration, which is coming down after peaking in 2022 (partly due to the Ukraine war, and other factors). Neither Tories nor Labour are going to radically reduce immigration because anyone having to ACTUALLY run the country can see that doing so will exacerbate the demographic time-bomb, reduce economic activity and decimate the NHS. You're poor because of 14 years of Conservative economic policy, not because of anyone's skin colour or passport.

Meanwhile: How many of us get to have a national referendum tailored around our favourite policy hobbyhorse? When is my referendum on industrial relations? On housing and land ownership? On the House of Lords? When do I get to be "heard"? Being heard doesn't mean everyone has to agree with you, or that you get to go out and beat up brown people because things aren't working out the way you imagined they would.

It's not that you haven't been heard. It's just that you were wrong.

Are you living in a parallel universe where a man in Birmingham just coming out of a pub didn't get beaten up and hospitalised with lacerations on his liver just for being white? You seem to think everything is about having brown coloured skin. You are very naive. There are many more issues bubbling under the surface. Having Starmer taking the knee immediately after vandals pulled down statues and threw them in a river seemed to be the start of it all. It looked like he condoned violent behaviour and criminal damage.

Bushmillsbabe · 07/08/2024 09:07

Bumpitybumper · 07/08/2024 06:11

I disagree.

I think for too long genuine and legitimate concerns about immigration have been ignored and viewed as racist. The issue is a actually incredibly complex from an economic, ethical and cultural perspective and one that all developed countries are having to tackle. Put simply though, there are far far too many people who would like to come to countries like the UK and we don't have the ability to absorb that many people without huge (and often unwelcome) changes being felt by the existing population.

You also have to be honest about the fact that there are different types of immigrant. A highly educated, super skilled immigrant that speaks English already and is from a similar country is going to find it a lot easier to integrate and contribute than an uneducated, unskilled individual who doesn't want to learn English and has strong religious views that conflict with the liberal values the UK favours. Put stalky, some immigrants are likely to remain economic burdens for a long time and have no intention of integrating and enriching the country they end up in. Your demographic argument doesn't really stack up in this context unless you start sifting immigrants for what they can offer a country which has all sorts of ethical issues when it comes to asylum seekers.

Absolutely agree with this. Lumping all immigrants in together is not helpful. Even putting all asylum seekers in together is not helpful.
I work with many asylum seekers and we see huge variations. 2 polar examples

Family 1 - Dad is a skilled engineer already speaking good English, mum learning English, 2 children 1 of whom has complex needs. Waiting so long for decision, Dad is having to work in cash in hand job as unable to work officially until receive a decision, so family are living in a glorified garage being exploited by a slum landlord. Unable to afford clothing so i gave them toys and clothes my children grew out of.Family attend all appointments for their child and expect nothing extra, Dad just wants to provide for their family in a safe environment.
Family 2 - Dad, Mum and 8 children. Dad is rude, aggressive towards us and his wife, as a female i an treated in a very derogatory manner and have to take a male colleague for personal safety. Mum has admitted via interpreters that her husband has no intention of working, that he prevents her from attending any classes, that he didn't work in their country of origin. She is worried that he will get their older sons into 'trouble through attending meetings where they are being encouraged to do things they shouldn't' and she us being pushed into agreeing FGM for their older daughters. Significant social services involvement.

I'm sure that most would agree that the 1st family would be a helpful addition to this country. The 2nd are concerning in their treatment of the wife and children, potential for radicalisation, FGM.

We need to process families quicker so those in need can provide for families and contribute.

EasternStandard · 07/08/2024 09:08

Sitdownrosa · 07/08/2024 08:59

The traffickers have their money by that point. They couldn't give a shit. The traffickers will still keep trafficking. They'll be lying to people and telling them that all they need to do is get on the boat and they'll be safe. They literally couldn't give a fuck if that person makes it safely to the UK.

You ever seen one of these boats in real life?

I have. It was full of women and very small children. A few men. I used to be one of those who would be asking why we have to take people who don't come here legally, asylum seeker or not. Get on a plane, do it properly, don't hang onto the bottom of a lorry or get on a dinghy.

When i saw that boat, I wondered how desperate as a mother you would need to be to put your tiny child into a rubber dinghy to float across one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world? That the alternative is worse? That this is literally the only option they feel they have? How will you get a plane ticket if you've lost it never had a passport? I defy anyone to look at a boat full of desperate women with their babies and tell them "fuck off, we're full". Instantly changed my mind about the whole thing. Who am i to tell that mother not to do what she feels she needs to to keep her baby safe?

The uk has an obligation to take asylum seekers so we can't just say, we are an island, not our problem. So some asylum seekers will end up here but the tories closed all legal, safe avenues. Which forces desperate people to get on the boat. So that's one way to stop the boats - allow people to start a uk asylum claim from the camp in France. Then they don't need to get on the boat and risk their 2 year olds life.

Show quote history

Trafficking from Albania has stopped because they are now returned

It was very high

That’s in response to the traffickers won’t give a shit part, it does stop them

Original poster

dropoutin · 07/08/2024 09:08

DoIWantTo · 07/08/2024 07:54

The thing is it’s posts like yours that are half the problem - you’re making it clear to people you don’t give a shit about immigration, refugees or the exceptional poverty and restlessness this country is facing, you want to brand them all racists so that you don’t need to listen to their concerns.

Some people have real issues with that and there’s never been an adequate answer nor solution. The only thing we can do is listen to them and make sure they feel heard because that’s the only thing that will stop it.

I’m absolutely not saying I agree with what they’re doing or the way they’re going about things, I don’t think writing them off as racists is the solution either though.

It's true that I don't give a shit about immigration. I think it's fine. Why am I not as entitled to that opinion as others are to the opposite one?

I most certainly give a shit about the exceptional poverty caused by 14 years of Tory government, and have been actively involved in various capacities trying to fight it. It's because I care about the real causes of it that I'm not willing to cheaply and cynically use it to demonise minorities.

OP posts:

Scandiviews1 · 07/08/2024 09:09

Sd352 · 07/08/2024 09:03

@Scandiviews1 pretty sure a lot of the posts and protesters make no such distinction

I'm sad you are thinking that. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, it's not the majority of people that think like that. This country hasnt suddenly become 100% racist and I hope you havent felt like that the last 10 years. Im assuming not as you are still here! Don't lump everyone in the same box as the rioters. The same way that you wouldn't want all immigrants being thought of as the same type. Most reasonable people just want limits on a situation that is possibly getting out of hand.

MrsBennetsPoorNerves · 07/08/2024 09:10

Frowningprovidence · 07/08/2024 08:37

I dont think that's true. As my view when reading the manifestos was that Labour also had immigration as a key policy with its new border security command and a committment to reduce migration by improving conditions for british workers to make less need for overseas workers , improving the point system etc.

No party was arguing for more boats and open immigration.

So I still think it could have been a top 3 issue for labour supporters but they just felt labours plan was better.

Show quote history

No, you're right. I was too hasty to suggest that the majority didn't care about immigration. What I was meaning was that the majority didn't choose parties that were promising to adopt draconian policies on immigration but I should have been more specific.

You're absolutely right that many people will have voted in favour of a more humane and nuanced approach to immigration than either the Tories or Reform were offering. Some may have voted Labour to get rid of the Rwanda scheme etc and/or because they want action focused on the criminal smuggling gangs instead of demonising the vulnerable people that are exploited by those gangs etc.

But I doubt that those are the people out there now setting fire to asylum seeker hotels etc.

EasternStandard · 07/08/2024 09:10

dropoutin · 07/08/2024 09:08

It's true that I don't give a shit about immigration. I think it's fine. Why am I not as entitled to that opinion as others are to the opposite one?

I most certainly give a shit about the exceptional poverty caused by 14 years of Tory government, and have been actively involved in various capacities trying to fight it. It's because I care about the real causes of it that I'm not willing to cheaply and cynically use it to demonise minorities.

Show quote history

How does a destabilised country sound though? The costs and ramifications are huge

WhysEverythingABallAche · 07/08/2024 09:11

In one of the countries I worked in I was the regional recruitment lead for bringing in expats for a consultancy.

We’d decide we needed an extra consultant for an area, and apply for a work permit. That person would have to have a degree, experience, references, and a medical. Very often I would be told by the visa office that no, that person doesn’t have a degree. It’s denied. Or, they have Hep C, denied. I would never hire a finance (accountancy) person as they’d be denied as the Unis are very heavy on Finance, Engineering, Law and medicine. If I applied for a marketing, sales or HR visa it’d be pretty much approved. We’d also get reprimanded if we hired too many foreigners and threatened a fine. If you broke the law, or as I saw a few times, you slagged off the locals and someone filmed it, you’d have your visa cancelled.

They hired the very skilled to fill gaps and drive a hard line government agenda of prosperity and wealth. At the other end they had quotas for gaps such as cleaners, care workers, childcare. If you were in the middle, your skills aren’t needed, you don’t get a visa.

This is a very hard line, but this is what is needed here. It’s not halt immigration, but bring in some really strict criteria which could be relaxed as things change.

HardyRoseSquid · 07/08/2024 09:13

This thread is full of people who by sheer good luck were born in a safe, stable country where human rights and freedoms are largely upheld and the nation is governed by a democratically elected government under the rule of law, and yet despite this being nothing more than sheer cosmic chance they are desperate to view themselves as somehow being more worthy of safety and security and freedom than people who were not born with these privileges.

And I guarantee that for every single one of you pretending you’re treading a moderate and reasonable line with your ‘I’m not at all racist, but…’ concerns about immigration and asylum, if you had been born in a country where you didn’t know if your home would still be standing when you returned from the supermarket, or your children were starving to death in front of your eyes, or your daughters weren’t allowed to receive an education, or your gay son was at risk of being beaten to death, or you didn’t know if a car bomb was going to wipe your entire family out on the way to school, or your husband was imprisoned for holding a forbidden political belief, or you were lashed with a whip as punishment for adultery because someone raped you, or your daughters were having their genitals mutilated, or drone strikes were wiping out hospitals and killing children daily, then you too would take the risk of placing your most treasured and fiercely loved children in a tiny inflatable boat and risking your lives on the sea for just a chance that it would lead to safety.

Kriscross · 07/08/2024 09:13

Bushmillsbabe · 07/08/2024 09:07

Absolutely agree with this. Lumping all immigrants in together is not helpful. Even putting all asylum seekers in together is not helpful.
I work with many asylum seekers and we see huge variations. 2 polar examples

Family 1 - Dad is a skilled engineer already speaking good English, mum learning English, 2 children 1 of whom has complex needs. Waiting so long for decision, Dad is having to work in cash in hand job as unable to work officially until receive a decision, so family are living in a glorified garage being exploited by a slum landlord. Unable to afford clothing so i gave them toys and clothes my children grew out of.Family attend all appointments for their child and expect nothing extra, Dad just wants to provide for their family in a safe environment.
Family 2 - Dad, Mum and 8 children. Dad is rude, aggressive towards us and his wife, as a female i an treated in a very derogatory manner and have to take a male colleague for personal safety. Mum has admitted via interpreters that her husband has no intention of working, that he prevents her from attending any classes, that he didn't work in their country of origin. She is worried that he will get their older sons into 'trouble through attending meetings where they are being encouraged to do things they shouldn't' and she us being pushed into agreeing FGM for their older daughters. Significant social services involvement.

I'm sure that most would agree that the 1st family would be a helpful addition to this country. The 2nd are concerning in their treatment of the wife and children, potential for radicalisation, FGM.

We need to process families quicker so those in need can provide for families and contribute.

Show quote history

This.

Some posts on X show the second family as the main.

Lots of misinformation on X including Elon stiring up potential civil war or civil unrest

caringcarer · 07/08/2024 09:14

Scarletrunner · 07/08/2024 07:07

Brexit wouldn’t have happened if there had been controlled immigration

I agree with this. Many people voted for Brexit believing it would stop mass immigration. It didn't so now we have riots. Tory's in the last few months before the election changed numbers of legal immigration by stopping a single student being their whole family with them sometimes up to 7 other people including parents and siblings. They should have done this sooner. It will reduce immigration figures a lot but not done in time.

dottiehens · 07/08/2024 09:14

At this stage I only care about leaving and taking my family to safety and sanity.

Scandiviews1 · 07/08/2024 09:15

HardyRoseSquid · 07/08/2024 09:13

This thread is full of people who by sheer good luck were born in a safe, stable country where human rights and freedoms are largely upheld and the nation is governed by a democratically elected government under the rule of law, and yet despite this being nothing more than sheer cosmic chance they are desperate to view themselves as somehow being more worthy of safety and security and freedom than people who were not born with these privileges.

And I guarantee that for every single one of you pretending you’re treading a moderate and reasonable line with your ‘I’m not at all racist, but…’ concerns about immigration and asylum, if you had been born in a country where you didn’t know if your home would still be standing when you returned from the supermarket, or your children were starving to death in front of your eyes, or your daughters weren’t allowed to receive an education, or your gay son was at risk of being beaten to death, or you didn’t know if a car bomb was going to wipe your entire family out on the way to school, or your husband was imprisoned for holding a forbidden political belief, or you were lashed with a whip as punishment for adultery because someone raped you, or your daughters were having their genitals mutilated, or drone strikes were wiping out hospitals and killing children daily, then you too would take the risk of placing your most treasured and fiercely loved children in a tiny inflatable boat and risking your lives on the sea for just a chance that it would lead to safety.

Edited

Yes fair point. But this country cannot take in the world and the state's main obligation is to the security of its people. That means knowing who is here.