'no asylum here'
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Any asylum seeker will tell you that the word 'immigration' equals fear.
The fear of possible detention and possible deportation. But to the vast
majority of the UK population, the word means little or nothing.
And then there are those - usually readers of a well-known right-wing
publication I won't name - for whom the word conjures up images of 'tides
of illegal immigrants' and 'scroungers' desperately seeking to enter the
UK to take advantage of our 'generous benefits system' or take our jobs.
Just the other day, one of these publications had a front-page story on
an apparent 'breakout from an asylum 'jail''. The paper went further.
It told us that local residents had been warned 'to lock up their doors
and windows', suggesting that asylum seekers on the run from immigration
officials might take the time to stop off somewhere for a spot of burglary,
rape or goodness knows what else.
Why this seemingly overwhelming desire to equate asylum seekers with criminals?
On the other hand, we have the aforementioned asylum seekers themselves.
People have been known to crash their cars, jump from multi-storey buildings
to their deaths, or go on the run like fugitives from justice, at the
mere suggestion that there may be an immigration officer on the horizon.
Either way, and regardless of your actual immigration situation, the way
the Home Office treats immigrants leaves much to be desired.
I have a friend. We'll call him 'Sam'. Sam's an asylum seeker from Zambia.
He
originally came to the UK on a student visa and had completed his first year studying chemical engineering at university, when he fell violently ill. The
