I am in favour of the government plan to relocate asylum seekers to Rwanda if they cross the channel illegally. I do this, knowing the hardships that those seeking persecution face. BUT, I am only in favour of this relocation where people are fleeing from nations where we have a safe and legal refugee route that is working to process applications quickly. That is if it is possible to have such a system in place in that nation.
When I posted about this last year, I did mention that asylum seekers are coming to our shores from a safe nation where they can claim asylum and that no action would result in more deaths in The Channel. I was wrong to do so as I was not aware how hard it was for asylum seekers to access legal routes. In addition to this, forcing refugees to claim asylum in the first safe nation they enter creates a burden on those nations, as seen in Lebanon and Moldova. I would only be in favour of that if we had a system, as is in place with Ukrainian refugees, where they can apply for asylum from those nations
It is silly really as we claim to be a Christian nation, and Jesus himself was an undocumented child refugee. There are some who disagree, but they forget how his parents fled The Massacre of the Innocents. I do think it is important to act on the people smugglers but it is even more important to offer refugees more legal avenues to seek asylum here.
With this in one, I am glad the plane which was to deport asylum seekers has been stopped from doing so. I do not know how long this will be for, but I do hope those who are fleeing persecution find a safe refugee here. I also hope we can create decent safe and legal routes for those wishing to come here as well.
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