[The bill] also proposes to criminalise the migrants themselves.
We should search our souls before doing this.
Can it really be a crime to be frightened; homeless; desperate; destitute; fleeing from persecution, or war, or famine, or hardship; and to cross half the world on foot and dangerous waters in an unsafe boat, in the hope of finding a better life?
Of course, if the numbers are too large, this creates an appalling problem for local communities. But surely, to seek sanctuary from an unbearable life cannot – morally – be treated as a crime?
Yet, the government’s border bill proposes to punish asylum seekers who take an unsanctioned route, with a jail sentence of up to four years.
There must be a better way to protect areas such as Kent, than filling our prisons with miserable unfortunates, whose only real crime is to seek a better life.
Prison – for these refugees – is punishment without compassion.
I do sympathise with the awful problem facing the government. But these proposals are not natural justice, and are decidedly un-British.
I hope the government will reconsider.
