"What about us? We're still here"

For many people working with refugees the current press coverage of the 'crisis' has provoked mixed feelings. Working in one tiny area I can't profess to be offering the most balanced or informed view but I'd like to share a point made by one of my friends, himself an asylum seeker in Manchester.

My friend; let's call him Isaac, is articulate, well informed and doing his best not to be worn down by the emotionally exhausting process of seeking asylum here. Having arrived in the UK as a minor, and with perfect English, when we meet the points he raises are to the point and come with a political awareness that comes from having a life where survival hinges on the whim of the government and statutory agencies.


Isaac welcomes the press coverage of the situation and the awareness that this is raising among members of the public. But Cameron's promise to take in 20,000 refugees is really troubling for him. Having waited for years as his own asylum claim is dismissed and rejected and as he faces threats and the 'offer' of voluntary return when he goes to sign on with the Home Office he has one question. "What about us? We're still here."

It's easy for the press to make the links they need and to deem it acceptable for Syrian refugees to be allowed to come into the UK. Just as programmes like Benefits Street reinforce the idea of the 'undeserving poor' we are now seeing this translate to migrants. Those who have fled a war (and not any war - one that's been covered extensively by the media) are deserving of our help. We should open up our homes to their children and take them our clothes. But that bloke on the street who's begging - he's come here for our benefits. He thought he would get a house and now he's too lazy to work.

Taking this perspective there is no way Isaac is undeserving. He is here through no fault of his own, had no intention to come here and has suffered and is suffering greatly. Isaac volunteers five days a week at different charities and is in every way 'work ready'. Ready and more than willing. He's not someone who doesn't care about the plight of those children in the Mediterranean.

But for Isaac there's a more immediate concern. 'Are they taking my place here?'. There has been a refusal to separate asylum claims from net migration targets but more pressingly for Isaac he sees himself as having his place in the queue taken. Last year 31,000 people applied for asylum in the UK and only 41% were granted leave to remain at the first decision. Isaac's past that stage now and his chances only get smaller.

Isaac strikes me as a person that would help that Syrian child off the raft onto dry land before himself. But he is no less deserving than that child.