My position is this. Successive British governments have failed in their first duty of protecting British citizens when it comes to irregular migration. Most irregular migrants who have come here over the last 10 years are young men from countries which have a turbulent recent history - war, genocide, extreme poverty and unemployment, failed states. Thus those who come bring trauma with them. Most also come from cultures in which women do not enjoy the hard-won freedoms we enjoy in the West. From the very first arrivals, accommodation should have been made available on Ministry of Defence sites as the default, following the internment practices of wartime. Housing in hotels and HMOs amongst established communities should never even have been considered.
In addition, steps have not been taken to discourage people from coming irregularly - a less generous benefits regime, earlier tightening of ILR, more safe routes, more and quicker deportation, adjustements to the law to limit the number of appeals per asylum seeker, tightening up equalities and human rights legislation, swifter and more efficient processing. Shabana Mahmood is the only Home Secretary who seems to understand this.
Sending people back is not as simple as a nation of origin saying no. Most irregular migrants have no documents. We are nolonger in the EU so have lost the right to return those who Ross the Channel to France.
Managing irregular migration in a way which prioritises reducing it above all else would leave us able to continue to offer asylum with the generosity we have largely shown since World War 2.
Recent governments have exposed women in particular to violence, including sexual violence, and facilitated the rise of the populist right. We should all be absolutely furious that we have been let down so badly as women, and that moderate governments have emboldened the immoderate. In all of this, however, it's so important to separate the issue of irregular immigration from the individuals who choose to come here. The dehumanising language that casually refers to 'them' and 'illegals' does nothing to help anyone understand the problem, making solutions even harder to find.
So I will never be in the half of the population that you predict will, say 'So what?' to whatever callous approaches are proposed to manage illegal immigration, not least because, as some of those who propose them are only too willing to tell us, Britain is a Christian country. Those who want the Coast Guard to slash dinghies with knives and midges on Scottish Isles to eat the flesh of people not our own should be ashamed of themselves, but I doubt that they are.
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