The downward spiral of political hostility.

The downward spiral of political hostility.

The downward spiral of hate and hostility against those seeking asylum and other migrants did not start with this government, it didn’t even start with the previous one, however it has been turbocharged with the current rhetoric.

During party conferences in September and October, and in interviews since, we have seen politicians from different parties try and outdo each other on the levels of inhumanity they can throw at us. Talk of mass deportations for those who already living and working here have been effectively “normalised” in some quarters.

With its hostile anti-asylum proposals yesterday, this government has thrown more petrol on the fire . We know from our experience working with other migrants how the current 20-year-route, which those who have “fallen out of status” have to go through, increases the risks of exploitation, along with causing significant mental and physical harm.

Applying that to those who have fled unimaginable horrors in order to seek safety here is guaranteed to increase those issues. The changes to both the time people have to wait until they can apply for permanent settlement, along with having to renew their applications every two and a half years, leaves them in a permanent limbo, denying them the very ability to “integrate” which this government claims is so important. 

We already see the devastating impact of longer routes to settlement on people’s lives. The way in which the precarity of their situations can affect so many different things. This government talks about the need for people to be working and supporting themselves, yet by imposing unduly harsh routes to settlement they make this harder. Employers are less likely to employ those on such routes, landlords less inclined to rent to them, because of the very routes which are implemented under the guise of “ensuring they contribute”.

Restricting family reunification routes doesn’t stop people needing to be with their families, nor does it change that those family members, predominately women and children, remain trapped in the same circumstances which the government has already recognised are unsafe and needing asylum from. What it does is force them into using different, irregular, routes, the exact thing this government purports to be challenging.

This is not a system based on “fairness” or “compassion” as the Home Secretary claimed in her provocative speech in the House of Commons when formally announcing these policies. It is a system based on cruelty and dehumanisation.

That seems to be par for the course at the moment however with the way the debate on immigration in general is going. This government’s language and policies against all migrants shows that we are seen by them as “second class” or “lesser than” others. There is no other way of looking at it when they talk about restricting our human rights in order to further vilify us.

In her speech on Monday the Home Secretary talked about needing these policies to combat “dark forces” and growing racism, to “unify a divided country”, yet all this government’s anti-immigration and asylum policies do is make that worse. Framing those seeking safety as “illegal”, claiming, falsely, that migrants are a “burden”, saying that they have to go far beyond that which is expected of British nationals just to be even slightly accepted. All of this reinforces a narrative that we are not welcome, a narrative which is based firmly in the very racism which this government claims to be challenging.

We are already seeing the fear and distress this government’s proposals are causing, and that is before many are even implemented. People came to this country in the hope of building a life here, instead they face increased racism and hate crimes, stoked by political rhetoric from both sides of the aisle.

Genuinely “functioning” asylum and immigration systems need to be built on genuine fairness and compassion. They need to be centred on those most affected by them, migrants ourselves. 

For those seeking asylum genuine safe routes are needed, not just repeating restricted schemes which already exist, such as community sponsorship. They need to be provided with the right to work, so that they can support themselves and rebuild their lives. They need safety and security.

For those who have fallen out of status we need more effective routes to regularisation, not adding to the number of people waiting 20 years before they get a chance at having some stability in their lives.

For migrants in general, we need policies which treat us with respect and dignity, not ones which treat as a free labour, such as “mandatory volunteering” to prove our worth.

This government has the opportunity to stop the spiral and implement policies which actual help people, and the communities which we live in. Instead, it has decided to push ever downwards in making our lives harder, ripping our families apart, and leaving us scared for our very futures.