The Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, claims that asylum seekers crossing the Channel are “illegal migrants” exploited by people smugglers. She has also claimed that they are at fault, because they are “people who are choosing to take an illegal and dangerous journey to come here for economic reasons”.
There are a number of falsities in this line of argument. Asylum seekers are not “illegal” because the 1951 Refugee Convention, to which we have adhered, recognises the right to seek asylum in another country.
Furthermore, most of them have not come here for economic reasons. On assessment of the asylum application in 2021 about 86% of the applicants were granted permission to stay in the UK by our authorities, because they are genuine refugees fleeing persecution, war or a natural disaster.
We have a process
We have a process to assess the validity of asylum applications, though under subsequent Conservative governments this process has slowed down.
What is fundamentally wrong with the Tories proposal to deport asylum-seekers to Rwanda, without allowing them to apply for asylum in the UK, is that it bypasses this process: this why it has been condemned by the United Nations. Only failed asylum applicants should be considered for deportation.
We are not overwhelmed
The UK is not overwhelmed by asylum-seekers. In 2021 we received 56,495 asylum applications, more than in preceding years but half the number we had in 2002.
Asylum seekers represent only about 10% of the net migration to the UK and, when the number of asylum seekers in considered in relation to the size of our population, we receive fewer asylum seekers than 17 other European countries.
A useful distraction
Populist politicians in the UK and across Europe need us to believe that we are threatened by “illegal migrants”. It can be a useful distraction.
Boris Johnson launched the deportation scheme to Rwanda when he was under criticism for the illegal Covid parties.
Suella Braverman made the absurd claim that England was “invaded” by migrants when she came under criticism for having kept asylum-seekers in grossly overcrowded centres and having broken the ministerial code on emails.
Madeleine Sumption, the director of the Oxford Migration Observatory, made this comment:
“This is not an invasion – it’s not an army. But if instead she is referring to the number of people coming, we can compare the figures to other countries and see that the numbers coming into the UK are relatively manageable.”
We have a recession worsened by Boris Johnson hard Brexit and Liz Truss disastrous mini budget. We are in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis and a wave of strikes in many public services. The NHS is on its knees.
The Conservative party, dominated by right-wing ideologists, is unable to offer valid policies and would like us to believe there are more important problems, like the “invasion of the illegal migrants”.
Across Europe, most people are not worried about migration. They recognise that migrants have made critical contributions to the economy, the culture, and the national sport teams. Some people may have prejudices, but racism is less common.
Culture
If there is one fear, it is about cultural identity in the face of a putative threat from different cultures. When populist leaders, like Matteo Salvini or Viktor Orban, mythologise the Judaeo-Christian tradition of Europe, they are just trying to justify islamophobia.
Migrants can become an integral part of our society and make our culture more vibrant. Keeping asylum seekers in detention centres does not help with integration, and delaying asylum applications does not help our economy either, given the scarcity of labour in so many sectors.
It does not matter what is our ethnic or religious background, what matters is sharing values.
A faster processing of asylum requests should include an accelerated course on our language and our fundamental values: freedom of speech, freedom to criticise any religions and any religious leaders, equal rights for women, LGBT rights, equal opportunities, compassion. Applying for asylum implies an acceptance of these values.
Obviously, we should do more to reduce the root causes of large-scale migration, but that would require collaboration with other European nations.
No doubt there are criminal gangs exploiting asylum seekers. However, the worst exploiters are the populist politicians: we are dealing with a humanitarian crisis, not an invasion.
