Is the Home Office betraying us?

PS. I really do thank my lucky stars every day that, despite the "hardships" of lockdown, I don't have to live in a refugee camp or a war torn country such as Syria or Yemen. So many of our issues are first-world problems.

Glad we agree maddyone. I'm extremely uncomfortable about the refugee situation, Covid-19 or not. I'm even more uncomfortable about "blaming" refugees for the current spread of the infection.

I'm a pragmatist. People are going to arrive, whether we like it or not, although apparently nobody has arrived via the route suggested by the MP since September 2019. I hate the linking of two separate issues and the "blaming" of so-called illegal immigrants.

So these people arrive. What do we do about them? We can drown or shoot them, so they never land, or we can isolate them and let the normal asylum procedures take their course.

I know which I prefer.

I'm not going to apologise for being a "weepie".

The virus has hit wealthy nations the hardest and been transmitted via wealthy travellers. I don’t think that blaming refugees is really on, and would have though perhaps all of us going through this shared experience of loss of freedom and finances, would have empathy for those who have really lost everything. I’m imperfect but gransnet feels very rightwing at the moment imo.

Yes, you’re right growstuff so in my opinion the best way to deal with the migrants at this difficult time, is to bring them on to land, test them and quarantine them for fourteen days, after which they can be accommodated in whichever ‘waiting’ area is available. From there their asylum claims can be processed. I would expect the claims to take somewhat longer than usual due to lockdown and social distancing in the workplace.

maddyone Yes, it was me.

Two issues are being conflated here: the inefficiency and unpreparedness of the British government and the ongoing problem of refuges.

The latter is being used to distract from the former.

I can't believe how heartless people are being. They really don't seem to be thinking about what they're saying.

No, but I was.

growstuff - I wasn't being sarcastic.

Callistemon I read that French authorities have tried to get migrants to go into hostels where there are at least washing facilities and also to attend hospital and medical centres if they're unwell. Unfortunately, because French police have spent the last few months tearing camps down in the dead of night, migrants are fearful that they will be sent miles away from Calais and be too far away to try to leave for Britain. Also, many that have been sent to isolated safe hostels have absconded because of attacks on them by local communities and they're afraid to stay. They feel safer in their own community in Calais despite its privations and risks of contracting Covid and other diseases.

If the camps in Calais are rife with the virus what are the French doing to care for these people?

After all, at the moment they are the responsibility of the French Government and the French healthcare system is supposedly so superior to ours, according to Gransnetters.

Chewbacca I agree with that! In fact, I believe it was growstuff who highlit (is that a word?) the fact that over eighteen million people flew into Britain over a certain period (not sure of exact dates) that was just before and around the lockdown period. The people arriving in boats are very small scale in comparison, but all arrivals should have been tested at least with a temperature check, and quarantined, in my humble opinion. Well sadly, no one in power bothered to ask my opinion,because if they had done, I would have suggested that we close our borders, except for repatriations, like many other countries did. However, I doubt very much that closed borders would have deterred the migrants, and so they would still have needed to be quarantined. After the fourteen days they would presumably have been housed in their temporary accommodation whilst their status was determined.
I’m quite concerned that the migrants may be simply housed and allowed to wander the streets whilst they await their asylum claim, and in doing so, possibly spread Covid19.

NannyC2, instead of fretting about Home Office 'betrayal' and a few illegal immigrants, why not consider all those let down by our government? Read this and take note of actions - they always speak far louder than words:

uk.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-britain-elderly-sp/special-report-in-shielding-its-hospitals-from-covid-19-britain-left-many-of-the-weakest-exposed-idUKKBN22H2EI

Dinahmo I welcome invited migrants to our Country but not illegals who have already landed on safe shores that have put an immense strain on our services, housing etc. We have laws and procedures so please do not try and turn it into a racist thing. We have a massively populated country compared to our neighbours.

Why so aggressive and demanding growstuff? I'm simply discussing the OP subject; like everyone else. But since you seem to think that you have right to demand an explanation and resolution to the problem, then I'd say that everyone who comes into the country, by whatever means of transport, should be tested at point of entry and immediately be sent to self isolate, as New Zealand has done. That ok with you?

18.1 million people flying in from Wuhan and stranded cruise ships? I don't think so growstuff.

Additional data provided to the committee shows that there were 18.1 million arrivals at the UK border by air, land and sea in the same period.
But a lot of the cases in the UK didn’t come from China and didn’t come from the place you might have expected, they came from European imports and the high level of travel into the UK at that time.”

So what do YOU suggest Chewbacca?

In the first part of her letter, she urges the government to work more closely with our "European neighbours". Why the hell should they want to work more closely with us?

Sally-Ann Hart may well be as you describe her growstuff, but nevertheless, on the issue of what protection is being offered to the migrants, and for the people that they will come into contact with whilst they are here, in regards to COVID19, is an issue that needs to be addressed. Along with the other 18.1million that flew in and didn't undergo any checks either.

Chewbacca I think most of them were people who had flown in from Wuhan or had come from that cruise ship (the name of which I've forgotten).

I'm not sure what this has to do with people arriving in small boats along the Channel.

NOT!

Sir Patrick Vallance was giving evidence to the health and social care committee after figures revealed that just 273 out of the 18.1 million people who entered the UK in the three months prior to the coronavirus lockdown were formally quarantined.

The Guardian 05.05.20

Iam64 Do you think I don't know that?

Unfortunately, sarcasm doesn't translate well on GN.

Sally-Ann Hart is currently being investigated for Islamophobia and once suggested that people with learning difficulties should be paid less. She sounds like a very caring human being.

grow stuff we may have left the EU but we haven't left Europe, or indeed The World. So, we still share responsibility for the desperate individuals fleeing war, poverty, famine, persecution and so on with the rest of Europe and the word.

We have VE Day some time this week. If the allies hadn't finally banded together to oppose the Nazie regime, I suppose there would be few, if any people of Jewish heritage. Of course, when the kinder transport was arranged in 1938, many people in this country didn't want to "welcome" the Jewish children.
Not much changes does it. Some people are "weepies" and other are heartless

Precisely, growstuff (18.54)

I did suggest, about 4 years ago, that France wouldn't be very hot on keeping migrants in Calais once we'd left the EU. I'm not sure why people think that they should..

I assume Sally-Ann Hart was/is in favour of staying in the EU, so that the UK can continue to co-operate with European neighbours.

Why would France or any other EU country be interested in stopping Channel crossing? As we keep being reminded, the UK has left the EU. The UK isn't the EU's concern.