What's your thoughts on asylum seekers?

[Lynds778]

I'm all for offering asylum to those genuinely in need but I've seen a lot of negative media recently around 'fake' asylum seekers; people pretending to be from war-torn countries etc to gain entry to the country. Also videos of men giving advice for future asylum seekers on where to say you're from so that you can get in.

Also seen a lot of uproar from local communities about asylum seekers behaving anti-socially, most recently hanging around outside a primary school in Deanshanger and it's got me worried.
I'm also wondering why the large majority of asylum seekers are men and there are less women and children?

So, what's your opinion?

Also, this isn't a racist post. I would have the exact same concerns if these were white asylum seekers from Germany for example. The worry is the system is being abused by some and that we are a bit too lax when it comes to documentation and monitoring of asylum seekers.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14058597/Fake-asylum-seekers-conning-way-Britain-telling-Home-Office-war-torn-Eritrea-bragging-thousands-followers-TikTok.html

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14185169/amp/Four-asylum-seekers-costing-taxpayer-estimated-160-000-year-living-575-000-luxury-home-accused-faking-Afghan-nationalities-UK.html

Yes definitely stop reading the mail it is not a good source. I suggest getting involved in volunteering with people seeking asylum and then you will be better informed. Once you know the people your views will be very different from the mail. If you notice the kind of language used is very similar to that used about the Jews in WW2 for example - watch The Boy in the Striped Pajamas for example and see how language is used to try to seperate people. But we are all people. Honestly, getting to know people and seeing their real life struggles is the best way.

Amnesty! Not Am Etsy!😀

I don't know how you can pretend to be from a war torn country. You either are or you're not. The government know which countries those are.

Because they are crazy racist countries. The way they treat immigrant labour from places in Asia & SE Asia is disgusting.

The sportwashing going on by holding the World Cup etc in the Middle East is abhorrent.

They also don’t have good human rights records, especially for women and LGBT people.

A good film to watch which may really help you to understand the perspective of an asylum seeker is the Swimmers, it’s on Netflix and is based on a true story.

how do you know the system is being abused?

thanks for waiting after holocaust Memorial Day to post this racist shite

I'm intrigued as to how you can tell that someone standing by a school is an asylum seeker. Is there some mark on them?

We have a hotel about half a mile up the road that houses asylum seekers. Never had a squeak of trouble from there. When it was announced a few years ago the village went into meltdown, people said we were all going to be raped. I guess those people read the same articles as the OP.

The Ukrainian men were not allowed to leave, I'm sure if they were there'd be thousands of them seeking refuge also that particular war which is Russia v Ukraine is completely different to the likes of Syria where so many different factions are fighting each other and many young men are forced into taking part, I personally would sell my soul to get my son away from that

I don't know how you can pretend to be from a war torn country. You either are or you're not. The government know which countries those are.

People destroy their documentation.

Let me see — Ukrainian women and children are able to flee because, while Ukraine is in many ways a developing country and the poorest in Europe, it’s still in Europe and its citizens have visa-free travel to the EU, AND most men aged between 18 and 30 are prevented from leaving the country because there’s a military draft to fight the Russians, so obviously it’s disproportionately women and children!

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21624887.2024.2398848#d1e112

As for migrants OR asylum seekers from more distant places, would you plan to trek thousands of dangerous miles, crossing borders through strange countries, enduring hellish conditions and extreme danger with your babies and small children? Or would you send an able-bodied male ahead to see if it was feasible, in the hope that he would survive and be able to send back?

It's not all men though, is it? The hotel up the road from me that houses asylum seekers is a mix.

Also, weird how you're saying "it's all men, not like those nice, white Ukrainians". Anyone would think the skin colour has an influence on your beliefs.

Yes, according to some people they have horns and 666 on their foreheads.

The Daily Mail is never going to give you a balanced view when it comes to asylum seekers.

Seeking asylum is perfectly legal and it is up to the government to do a better job of assessing applications and removing the people who don't qualify.

The right wing press often muddy the water by talking about 'small boats' but fails to mention that successive UK governments have made the crisis worse by failing to do simple things like working with the French to process asylum seekers to UK in Calais...

It takes so long to process claims - what are people supposed to do in the meantime when they can’t work, don’t have their families here and are asked to leave their accomodation during the day ?

Of course there will be fake claims but increasing the amount spent on processing claims isn’t going to be particularly popular and it suits politicians to have asylum seekers around as “useful idiots “ to detract from the real problems.

Daily mail is a total rag.

If they were one person, they would be charged for harassing and stalking certain people.

With the knowledge that their vile followers will add 1000's of vile comments.

I don't know how they get away with it.

Otoh immigration has increased by a huge amount in the last decade.

Many longstanding issues are being blamed on Immigration.

In Ireland the issues are mainly local people who can't find accommodation, it's the infrastructure and facilities that need improving.

It has highlighted the laziness of the government, spending millions of welfare rentals payments to private landlords years and never building social housing properties.

The hospital staff were not increased or GP services, when the population expanded
services that were already in desperate need.

There is little difference in working full-time in a low paid job and claiming social welfare, prople assume immigration people get everything for free.

They do not. Immigration payments are only 48 euros weekly in comparison to average job seekers 240 per week for EU residents.

Some small businesses around hotel accommodation has closed, as there are no longer tourists as the hotel are immigration accommodation.

Far right keep burning buildings that could free up hotel accommodation.

I feel very sorry for the people, many are living in tents and being abused daily. They are blamed for the social issues that have nothing to do with them.

I also feel for the Asian and Black communities, many have been here decades, witnessing the racism and horrendous abuse that is growing rapidly.

God. Again? These points have been raised and answered on every thread like this.

It’s mostly men for 2 main reasons:

1. in many of these countries men and older boys are at most immediate danger of death and/or forced conscription. That’s not to minimise the danger women and children face, and the risks to them are imo as abhorrent, but getting the men out quickly is an understandable move.
2. many of these countries have very old fashioned gender roles where men are the hunter-gatherer types - so are sent ahead to settle, make some money and send for the women and children
3. the journeys are long and treacherous, with extreme hardship - so again, men are seen as more able to endure them. The hope is that once settled, the men can send for their families to travel in a less dangerous way
4. in Ukraine, there was a very quick law passed that prohibited men from leaving the country - they were expected to stay and fight. So only women and children were able to leave. Also, there was a quick visa scheme set up for Ukrainian refugees so they didn’t have to travel via the dangerous routes I mention above.

Any other Daily Heil tropes you would like to have explained?

It depends if OP's intention here is to genuinely ask for a variety of points of view to understand more / educate themselves or if it's to start a fight online.

This is a very complex subject and every country (at least in the west) has some kind of duty of care to consider asylum seekers. It's not just a lawful but a moral duty IMO

The issue I have is that there are no systems in place that help integrate asylum seekers in to the western society. Once asylum is granted, they are left to their own devices and IF they fall in to crime as a result of not having friends, family, money, job, stability - the media paints them as horrible asylum seekers that shouldn't have made their way in in the first place.

I am a strong believer in giving someone the rod and not the fish - give them the opportunity to work and find their feet - but that opportunity needs to come from having the correct visa terms to work and the openness of the public to give genuine jobs, not rip off, cash in hand, no sick pay, car wash jobs.

And most of all, when people come from different cultures, we can't just expect them to slot right in and play by the rules of the west as if they know them! They need communities that can guide them on what's socially acceptable and how the cultures can blend together to work in unison.

I'm reminded of the quote
" No one puts their child on a boat unless the water is safer than the land"

There are some systems - the Syrian and Ukrainian support plan from the government included this and there are a lot of charities that do all this. Which is why I thought the OP might like to add their support so they could understand things better. Its not enough certainly but there is support.

Seen it already, loved it and cried many tears. Again I'm all for asylum seekers, just not the reported 'fake' ones who abuse the system or the asylum seekers who come here and behave antisocially. Nobody's really responding to my points everyone's just assuming I hate and don't want any asylum seekers at all which isn't what i said literally in the first line of my post

My view:

The UK promised to take asylum seekers from Afghanistan war (people who worked for our government/ alongside military and their relatives) and have not fulfilled that promise!

There are countries which we should not take AS from, eg Albania. There should be a list!

Processing times need speeding up.

They should be given work whilst waiting.

We have to limit the numbers we can take - which we could before Brexit as we coukd send them back to a european country they had left previously!!!

Because of the couple in the link above who claimed to be from Afghanistan to gain asylum after having their Indian visas denied.

From the news articles stating that asylum seekers are loitering outside a school:

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/24/asylum-seekers-loitering-northamptonshire-school-police/

I'm intrigued as to how you can tell that someone standing by a school is an asylum seeker. Is there some mark on them?

You can tell, by the stress on their face, mixed with joy as they watch their child skip off safely into school.
Happiness, trauma and hope.
I always make sure that I smile at them.
I can't imagine how hard it is for them.

The British raped and pillaged and stole and terrorised huge numbers of people in the not too distant past, we got very, very rich off the back of it.

Britain's actions are responsible for many of the problems in the world at the moment. We seem to be completely unable to learn from our mistakes.

We are very good at looking after our own interests. We are not good at taking responsibility for, and caring for, the people we disadvantage in the process.