Asylum Link Merseyside News

The centre is becoming busier with each passing day, as the weather improves, the days lengthen and people begin to shrug off the overcoat of winter. It is difficult to predict what the year ahead holds, but for sure there is always change coming and a new ‘Illegal Immigration’ Bill has been announced which will prevent anyone arriving irregularly in the UK, from claiming Asylum. From our point of view, this is manifestly unfair, as people with perfectly valid claims for protection will be prevented from claiming depending on their method of arrival, and either left in limbo or removed.

Locally, in Kirkby and Wallasey, we have seen incidents of the far right protesting outside the Emergency Hotels where Asylum Seekers are housed, and many people will have seen pictures of the burning Police Van outside the hotel in Knowsley. People in the hotel have spoken to us of how frightened they were and the abuse and violence has continued as they try to visit the local shops or amenities. Equally they are reassured when we see them, that the majority of people in the UK are not like the protestors. The postcards of support and welcome received at SHARe Knowsley from St Joseph’s College were very much appreciated.

Once again, it is outsiders who are blamed for the ills of the world. The backlog of asylum claims has been allowed to grow to over 160,000, something which began years ago, before the Pandemic. It is now exacerbated by the increase in claims that we see everywhere around Europe and the wider world. It feels like this a distraction from what is really happening in our country with strikes, rising inflation, energy, fuel and food bills. The rumours of our withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights, in order to make the new Immigration Legislation legal, have left us wondering what the UK actually stands for.

If that all feels a bit much, there have been good things happening too, counteracting the harshness of the system. Back in December some of us visited St Mary’s prep in Crosby for some Christmas Songs and it was lovely to see such enthusiastic pupils and receive the Christmas cards that were distributed around the English Classes to the ALM students.

Through January and February, some Action Asylum projects have taken place, clearing invasive species from Offa’s Dyke and planting over 3000 saplings. As you can see, the weather was cold, but everyone enjoyed themselves.

We have also been out in the Community, providing meals at the Deysbrook Centre in West Derby, giving local people a taste of the wonderful food that we provide here. It allows local people to meet Refugees, mostly for the first time, taking the mystery and myth out of the term ‘asylum seeker’, where people are seen as cooks, chefs, mums or brothers, discarding the label refugee, in favour of something more understandable.

In March we managed to get a DentAid mobile dental unit at the centre for two days, and twenty people had fillings and extractions. They had been unable to get a local dentist and had been in pain for months.

As with life in general, we have to run very hard to keep pace with events. Thank you to all the pupils and staff at Edmund Rice who help us to keep going.