Is the Home Office betraying us?

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.

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.

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.

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".

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.

growstuff my sentiments exactly.

In my view Farage is an evil bastard who will stop at nothing to lay the blame on others. In this case as usual the migrants for bringing in the virus. He is like a stuck record.

Schools failing? Blame the immigrants.

Hospitals full? Blame the immigrants

Unemployment? Blame the immigrants.

The trouble is it is such an easy simple message that people can grasp it and accept it as true without the need to nuance the argument or think any deeper.

The Border Force is not a taxi service. They could simply have given them a local bus timetable. Waste of tax payers money.

What can the immigrants, illegal or not, carry, in the way of disease that we can't ??

It's we, in the Western world who carry the most diseases by our way of life flying hither and thither, so any argument blaming others doesn't hold water.

Furret. I have to assume you are being sarcastic.

Yes!

Thank goodness....

You will have to excuse my sense of humour I’m new on here.

Did I just hear on Radio Four that occupation in detention centres has dropped by two thirds? 50 people have been re-patriated, the rest cleared to remain. It’s taken a pandemic to get things moving.

NikDumpling or a chance to hurriedly deport people without anyone noticing or drawing attention to the fact that some may not have had proper legal advice. This government has a history of doing that.

Nagaio A civilised country would have rules that are universally humanitarian, and not ones that only benefit some people

It was the weepies of the world who had the strength of will and purpose to act to improve the lot of the majority of the world's downtrodden populattion, in areas from medical attention for the poor, through marriage rights for women, legal redress for violence and other crimes, to a voice in government and otthings enjoyed by civilised societies, If we can't weep for the misfortunes of others and do something about them, we have no right to believe that we are civilised.

I don’t think it’s about ‘blaming’ the immigrants for bringing in disease, it’s that everyone can become a victim of the awful Coronavirus. Neither a Prince in a castle nor a migrant in a camp is immune, and that’s why the migrants should be tested and quarantined. In my opinion all travellers into the country should be quarantined, but as someone said upthread, that’s mixing two issues. Coronavirus is in the camps in France which is why we should take reasonable precautions. It protects them as well as the usual population. Should a migrant develop serious Covid19 they would then be taken to hospital in exactly the same way as anyone else.

Growstuff. I would have many more patrols, far out into the channel so that they can make the small boats turn around before they reach our shores. I have no problem with official immigration providing that the travellers are tested before arriving here.

How are we going to stop the virus spreading when untested people are allowed to illegally, come into GB and not turned back.

Ngaio so when they are turned back what do you imagine they would do? Just beach their boat and give up, or start off again this time heading for a less protected area?

Trisher. I cannot say what individuals would do in any particular circumstance. I do know, however, that there is an immigration procedure and that the people coming in by the back door are breaking the law and know as much.

Elegran. I have a humanitarian outlook but fail to see how allowing people with Covid 19 to come into the country will help us keep the numbers affected down. It is of no help to us, or them, if the virus keeps on spreading. When people arrive with no official papers or some evidence that they do not have Covid it is obvious to keep them away and try to remove one source of infection.

Of course there is an immigration procedure Ngaio1 and people apprehended on our coast will be subjected to that process. They are therefore held in custody whilst their papers and stories are checked and then a decision is taken over their future. It takes time and they are held securely until it is completed. So are effectively quarantined from us if not from other immigrants. Your idea would leave them free to return in their boat land on another beach and disperse into the population without any supervison or quarantine.

With the greatest respect trisher I don't think that anyone who comes into the UK, by whatever route or mode of transport, is routinely checked for COVID19, according to details provided in The Guardian on 5th May. My post yesterday, regarding the letter that Sally-Ann Hart, MP for Hastings & Rye, has written to Pritti Patel to seek assurance that this going to be done. And it should; not just for those coming in via Calais but everywhere else in the UK too. New Zealand locked it's borders some time ago to everyone and has seen a rapid decline in new cases and as of Monday 4th May they had zero new cases reported . But as usual, the UK is slow to react and everyone suffers the consequences.

Even if they're not tested for Covid they won't be allowed to just wander off into the UK at will. They'll be kept in detention. As trisher said, effectively in quarantine.

Chewbacca I don't think I said they were tested for the virus did I? I said they were quarantined from the rest of us. Of course the virus may be running riot in the detention centres. We will probably never know. And we are also most likely deporting people who have the virus and spreading it world wide.

trisher. I hope you are right. Nevertheless, we do seem to be condoning people sneaking into GB without papers. I also spare many thoughts to our officials who have to collect them. Let us hope, for their sakes, that they are given PEP. I wonder how many people are deported? As they are quite to break the law and quarantine to get here perhaps it should be an automatic procedure?

But we are not condoning it - we are detaining them and then dealing with them by due process of law. If we were condoning it no-one would even bother to notice that the boats are arriving.