Can we discuss the migrant crisis in a sensible and humane way?

Wasn't aware of any such scheme GG, would've definitely participated. It certainly wasn't as well publicised as the Ukraine scheme!

DoNotDisturb

Just a quick observation on the difference in the way the Govt has responded to help Ukraine! I am hosting a refugee from UA, and delighted to be able to do so, but for years have wondered helplessly why we've not been allowed to help other refugees and asylum seekers in a similar way. Surely it can't just be a case of skin pigmentation??????

There has been a Government scheme up and running for years to help refugees from all over the world.

A dear friend of ours has housed young men from Syria, Sudan, Afghanistan and other nations of conflict.

Both the young men and our friends received a lot of support from social workers and other agencies.

The majority went into education and several are at Universities one is a junior doctor.

Just a quick observation on the difference in the way the Govt has responded to help Ukraine! I am hosting a refugee from UA, and delighted to be able to do so, but for years have wondered helplessly why we've not been allowed to help other refugees and asylum seekers in a similar way. Surely it can't just be a case of skin pigmentation??????

Presumably the rapist was a legal migrant? If so there was nothing to stop his entry to UK. The problem is that his deportation as an undesirable is being thwarted. Any migrant convicted of rape should serve their sentence and/or deportation.

The Daily Mail checklist...

✅ unscrupulous lawyers (aka lefty enemies of the people)
✅refugees could be rapists
✅invent "virtue signalling" passengers who never existed
✅they destroy their papers
✅refugees are illegals

Did I miss anything?

volver

Is there any evidence at all that any party are thinking of introducing a mansion tax to pay for asylum seekers? Any evidence at all?

Because if not, why bring it up?

The idea of a "mansion tax" (ie wealth tax rather than income tax) has been discussed by tax reformers and there are some research papers about how it could work. However, I have never seen it discussed in relation to asylum seekers. I suspect this is a red herring to increase the negative spin about accepting asylum seekers.

So you label all refugees as rapists just because one was?

No, refugees don't all destroy their paperwork. This has already been discussed on this thread. Some countries won't issue paperwork in the first place.

The trouble is when these migrants do something against the law and are defended by unscrupulous lawyers we can’t deport them.
I feel sorry for the young woman who was violently raped by a man who’d only been in this country a number of days. He the spent 4 of his 8 year sentence in jail and then put on a plane to be deported. The passengers of which then refused to let the plane take off without knowing of his violent disposition. He has used every excuse not to be deported with the help of these lawyers.
She now spends her life looking over her shoulder and lives in fear. Let’s face it she’s not on her own as rape and crime seem to be a way of life for some.
I wonder how those passengers feel now they know the truth about him.
The trouble is they destroy their papers and we absolutely nothing about them.
We should not be letting criminals into our country. If they can’t produce papers they shouldn’t be allowed in!

I've heard that bandied about but not seriously.

Is there any evidence at all that any party are thinking of introducing a mansion tax to pay for asylum seekers? Any evidence at all?

Because if not, why bring it up?

Lillyflower, I find your description of the mansion tax horrifying!

If this came to pass (and was initiated even in part due to immigrantion) I would think it would harden attitudes to the problem.

That seems a very sensible thing to do. Must be just too sensible!

??

volver

Catlover123

I'm pretty sure that the French vetoed that idea

They did not. In fact they suggested it.

Instead, France has proposed setting up joint processing centres on French soil, where applications for asylum in Britain could be examined by British immigration officers.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/nov/26/channel-crossings-france-uk-johnson-macron-letter

thanks Volver for the info

Catlover123

I'm pretty sure that the French vetoed that idea

They did not. In fact they suggested it.

Instead, France has proposed setting up joint processing centres on French soil, where applications for asylum in Britain could be examined by British immigration officers.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/nov/26/channel-crossings-france-uk-johnson-macron-letter

Good information Volver and I believe that Sweden is another country favoured by refugees. I am also believe that there is a huge element of racism with the refugee problem, we welcomed refugees who were Ukrainian but with those from Syria, Iran etc it was a different matter.

sorry, that was in answer to Houseplants suggestion that applications should be done in Calais, but the French wouldn't allow it?

I'm pretty sure that the French vetoed that idea

Germany - 1.5 times larger.

3 times as many applications.

We have a labour shortage.

Excuses, excuses.

Thanks for those facts volver. Very interesting. I suppose I should mention that Germany is a much larger country than us and that they have a notable shortage of labour. Angela Merkel did very well in my opinion to open their borders to migrants but that seems to have backfired on her according to friends in Germany. She's gone now of course. I'm not sure how well things are going there right now.
Och, as has been said so many times, of course we should take poor unfortunate asylum seekers fleeing in desperate need but it's the economic migrants that are muddying the waters. If the visa system worked more efficiently that would help.
Meanwhile, I'm still pondering the fate of the disappearing Devon boatload.

GrannyGravy13

According to the BBC, the asylum seekers who will be tagged in this pilot scheme are those deemed not likely to conform to the terms and conditions set whilst waiting for their asylum claims to be approved.

First will be those who avoided the flight to Rwanda.

So they intend to treat as criminals those who successfully and legally appealed against being illegally deported to another country.

For those who would actually like to have some facts and figures about this, here is an interesting article from the BBC this morning.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53699511

Germany, 1.5 times our size and 1.5 times our population, had 3 times as many applications for asylum as us last year. The whole world does not want to come here because of how great we are compared to everyone else.

People are now crossing on dinghies because we tightened the security measures for trucks. That was the right thing to do, of course. But beware of unintended consequences.

Although we don’t have ID cards in the UK, the employment rules we do have make it very difficult for people to employ workers who are not entitled to work.

We’ve heard quite a lot on here about how they are jumping the queue and should wait to get Visas through the so-called “legal” routes. There are nine routes to getting that asylum seekers can take. Five of them are limited to people from Afghanistan, Ukraine and Hong Kong. One route is for partners and children of people already here. The three other routes allowed the settlement of 1,271 people last year. If you are escaping war or oppression in Eritrea or Viet Nam, and want to join your brother here, you will die of old age before you get to the head of the queue for visas.

If posters don’t want to support asylum seekers and don’t want them here just say so. Don’t pretend that we are global Britain doing our bit and everybody else is just out to get us.

According to the BBC, the asylum seekers who will be tagged in this pilot scheme are those deemed not likely to conform to the terms and conditions set whilst waiting for their asylum claims to be approved.

First will be those who avoided the flight to Rwanda.

I know how I feel about this.

Maybe in a couple of months we'll be tattooing them and making them wear yellow stars on thier clothes.

It’s being reported this morning that there is a plan to electronically tag asylum seekers.

Not sure how I feel about this.