Lent Reflections – Immigration in God’s World by Roy Jordan 22nd March 2019
For some years it was not Politically Correct to discuss immigration. Quite often, anyone who mentioned it was classified as a racist or, even worse, a nationalist with hints of Nazi Germany and skin colour discrimination in the background.
Today, the situation is very different. Newspapers, television and social media give wide coverage to immigration and it became a major factor in the 2016 Referendum on UK membership of the EU.
My reflection today is that I am aware that immigration is happening now on a massive scale, even though I am somewhat shielded from it. What should my attitude as a follower of Jesus be to this forced movement of millions of vulnerable people who have seen their families and homes destroyed?
Definition
I considered whether I should define immigration for the purpose of this Reflection. There is a legal definition in the UK Immigration Act but I felt that my own definition was more appropriate – an immigrant is someone born in one country who, for whatever reason, moves into another country for an extended period. However, I subsequently watched a BBC programme on the Crusades and was struck by the comment that the Crusaders responded to the Pope’s call for a Holy War because they felt the “Otherness” of the Muslims who were occupying Jerusalem. I realised that even someone from Lancashire could be regarded as an immigrant if they moved into Yorkshire (and vice-versa) because they could be seen as different. So I decided that I would focus on “displaced” people.
The World Today
Sadly today the number of displaced people is growing by the day and amounts to many millions across the world. The reason for displacement ranges from escape from persecution, death, war, natural disasters, collapse of the economy and, for some, the quest for a better quality of life.
For example, there are at least 3.5 million refugees fleeing from a corrupt and economically devastated Venezuela into Colombia. A migrant caravan of asylum seekers numbering many thousands is moving slowly from the violence and death in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador towards the southern border of the USA where the President is building a wall (or fence) to keep these migrants out.
Thousands of hopeful migrants are trying to reach Europe from the African continent and the Middle East. Many of them are sadly drowning in the Mediterranean before they can safely arrive in Europe. Tens of thousands are fleeing from Nigeria into Cameroun to escape the onslaught of the extreme Muslim sect Boko Haram. There are more millions who have had to move from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq into neighbouring countries as a result of the horrendous wars which have been inflicted on them in recent years. Some people are leaving Iran to escape the restrictive and corrupt regime there. In Asia, the Rohingya Muslims were driven out of Myanmar into Bangladesh as national soldiers destroyed their villages and killed and raped so many of the innocent inhabitants. Unfortunately, many of the countries to which the migrants are fleeing are not able to receive and accommodate them and need assistance to cope with the influx. There is a shortage of financial, medical and educational help. It is also a sad fact that a large number of the migrants have been forced to leave their home against their wishes. There are close to 200 countries which are members of the United Nations and this means that there a lot of national borders which can be crossed and countries unwittingly be affected by the displacement of so many people. The UN is trying to help refugees and receiving countries but is being overwhelmed by the vast numbers involved as well as the political obstruction of some UN member countries.
This problem of massive movements of people is not going to go away. For example, the population of Nigeria is currently around 190 million with an average age for the country of 18. It is estimated that if the present birth rate continues the population will have reached 400 million by 2030. This kind of population growth is being replicated in many other countries, which will not be able to support their increasing numbers. The worldwide population is expected to grow from the current 7.5 billion to 9 billion before the end of the century.
Europe
Many countries in the European Union have been greatly affected by the large numbers of destitute immigrants arriving across their border. Italy and Greece, both of which have financial problems, in particular are suffering from the influx of vulnerable immigrants. The EU as a whole is finding it difficult to agree on a policy to cope with the large and rapid flow of people, which for some is even threatening one of the EU’s principal pillars – the free movement of people between the member nations.
I had mixed feelings when Angela Merkel invited so many immigrants into Germany. Here was the most important EU political leader showing humane and caring values, even if there was an underlying subsidiary motive that the German population is ageing and showing signs of decline so that new young people will be needed in future. In just one year 890,000 immigrants arrived in Germany. There may though be a future problem for the largely Christian outlook and values which prevail currently in Europe because the majority of new immigrants are Muslims. For example, one estimate shows that within the next 30 years Muslims will account for 10% of the German population.
United Kingdom
Throughout its history, the UK has benefited from the inflow of immigrants, who have contributed to our economy and culture. Just two examples since World War 2 are the Windrush generation from the Caribbean and the Asians and Africans who fled from Idi Amin in Uganda and sought asylum in the UK.
For the present, the UK has been shielded from the current main flow of immigrants into Europe. We are a relatively small country with a population density of around 660 people per square mile. Within the EU only The Netherlands and Belgium have a higher population density than the UK. In contrast France, which has a similar size population to the UK, has a density of only around 300 per square mile.
Without making any political points, in the last 25 years one UK government allowed the free movement into the country of EU citizens, and East Europeans in particular, as a matter of policy to counter the effects of an ageing population and to stimulate economic growth. The next UK government pledged to reduce the volume of immigration because it claimed that the high level was unsustainable. There were insufficient schools, houses, hospitals and other infrastructure facilities to accommodate the newcomers and more time was needed to absorb the immigrants into our culture.
In my view, the policies of both these governments have failed. Labour’s virtually uncontrolled inflow of immigrants eventually led to the strengthening of UKIP and became a major factor leading to Brexit. “Take back control of our borders” appeared attractive to many voters. The Coalition and Conservative governments have failed to reduce the large number of immigrants. In the year to September 2018 net immigration into the UK was 283,000. For several years the annual numbers have been fairly stable with the inflow around 625,000 and the outflow around 345,000. More recently, fewer EU citizens have come into the UK but the reduction has been offset by more non-EU immigrants.
In many ways it makes sense to try to control the volume of immigrants so that the required facilities and infrastructure are progressively put in place to be able to provide appropriate living conditions and to absorb the newcomers into our culture.
A Dilemma
But – I am faced with a dilemma. I was raised as a youngster in Kent in the Presbyterian Church (with a strong Scottish influence!). Although I accept the Darwinian theory of evolution, embedded in my brain from my time in Sunday school is the wonderful description in Genesis of how God created the world and all that is in it. The Creation Story is the most concise and vivid description of how the world started and how we came to be here that you could wish to find. It is considered to be mythical but it has left one strong message in my brain and that is: this is God’s world and we are temporary stewards of it to protect and conserve it for future generations.
If this is so, it raises the question: what right do I or my Government have to stop other people who are made in God’s likeness from coming to live in the UK if they want to? What is it I am saying to a person who, for example, was born and lives in an arid desert in Africa or the Middle East? Or to a person born and living in the slums of one of the major cities in Asia or Latin America? “ Hard luck. You don’t have any clean water or medical and educational facilities but you must stay there until your relatively short life is over. You cannot come and live in the verdant pastures of the UK, even though it is part of God’s world”. I wonder: why shouldn’t they be able to aspire to a higher quality of life, possibly by coming to live in an economically developed country like the UK?
I am somewhat concerned and confused by these different attitudes to immigration. So, as a follower of the teachings of Jesus, I look in the Gospels to see what Jesus said or did in relation to immigration.
The Teaching of Jesus
Jesus was, of course, himself an immigrant and asylum seeker when his parents took him as a baby to Egypt to escape death at the hands of Herod. Jesus was also very aware of the immigrant history of the Jewish people, his ancestors. However, in the Gospel of Matthew, which was written for a Jewish readership, there is not much interaction recorded between Jesus and non-Jews. Jesus did heal the servant of a Roman officer in Capernaum but when he sent out his 12 disciples he instructed them not to go “to any Gentile territory or any Samaritan towns. Instead, you are to go to the lost sheep of the people of Israel”. When a Canaanite woman asked Jesus to heal her daughter who had a demon, Jesus replied “I have been sent only to the lost sheep of Israel” although he did subsequently heal the girl. Jesus did also have contact with a woman from Samaria at a water well but generally reports of his interaction with non-Jews are limited. After his resurrection Jesus did, though, tell his disciples “go then to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples…” .
If I cannot find direct guidance in the Gospels on what my attitude to mass migration should be, perhaps I can deduce it from consideration of the character of Jesus. This might be a slight diversion, but my understanding is that Jesus spent his life on earth as a human. Between the time of his birth and his crucifixion Jesus lived and behaved as a human, having resisted at the beginning of his Ministry the temptations of the devil to use “supernatural” powers as he spent 40 days in the wilderness.
Some of the scholars who have examined the Dead Sea Scrolls suggest that Jesus was an Essene, a member of that religious group who meticulously guarded the commandments and rituals set out in the Torah. Although it is recorded that Jesus was the son of a carpenter, it seems perfectly possible that Jesus was indeed a Rabbi. It does appear that Jesus was very interested in the Jewish Faith from an early age for it is recorded in Luke’s Gospel that when Jesus was 12 he sat in the temple “surrounded by the teachers, listening to them and putting questions; and all who heard him were amazed at his intelligence and the answers he gave”. After his baptism by John the Baptist and his rejection of the temptations, Jesus “taught in their synagogues and all men sang his praises”. In Nazareth, “Jesus went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day as he regularly did. He stood up to read the lesson and was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah”. In Capernaum, Jesus “taught the people on the Sabbath and they were astounded at his teaching for what he said had the note of authority”. Shortly after this, Jesus said “I must give the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns also, for that is what I was sent to do. So he proclaimed the Gospel in the synagogues of Judea”.
When the Jewish religious authorities tried to trap Jesus with difficult or critical questions so that they could stop him undermining their strict teaching, Jesus usually responded with a quotation from the Torah or the books of the Prophets. He had a deep knowledge of the Jewish religious books and history and it is possible that he had spent some of his early years studying to become a Rabbi and because of this training was allowed to preach in the synagogues. Jesus was an intelligent man and would have had access to the knowledge of other nations. In view of the many healings which he and his disciples performed, it is possible that Jesus also had studied medicine.
If this conjecture is right, the Baptism of Jesus could have been the beginning of his second Ministry when he broke loose from the restrictive teachings of the Jewish religious authorities and started to preach a positive Gospel of the spiritual Kingdom of God. His emphasis was away from the strict observance of the letter of the Jewish law as taught and imposed by the authorities and on to the love of God and its meaning for everyday life.
Conclusion
Therefore, I believe that the attitude of Jesus to the problems of immigration today would have been full of common sense and of love for other human beings. Jesus did accept the structure of a State, saying “Render unto Caesar that which belongs to Caesar”. He also acknowledged the Jewish religious authorities: “the doctors of the law and the Pharisees sit in the chair of Moses; therefore do what they tell you; pay attention to their words. But do not follow their practice; for they say one thing and do another”.
A major teaching of Jesus, known as the Great Commandment, is: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind”. The second most important commandment is like it: “Love your neighbour as you love yourself”. Treat others as you would like them to treat you.
This suggests that his followers today should treat immigrants with respect, sympathy and generosity. At times in history Church buildings have been a location for people to find sanctuary. Today we say that like the early Christians it is the Christian believers who are God’s church, not the buildings, and we should offer and provide sanctuary.
At a personal and practical level we can financially support charities such as Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) and the British Red Cross who are daily supporting and helping displaced people. We can also lobby Members of Parliament personally or through like-minded groups to develop and implement policies which address the problems of immigrants, whether they be asylum seekers or economic migrants. Often, governments impose sanctions on countries with whose policies they disagree but this tends to harm the ordinary and vulnerable citizens in that country and creates an environment for more displaced people.
Our country continues to be generous with official aid to overseas countries in need. The UK government has legislated that 0.7% of the UK’s Gross National Income must be allocated to foreign aid. This will amount to £14.5 billion this year and it will increase in future as the economy grows. The top two recipients of this aid are Pakistan and Syria, both Muslim countries, while Sierra Leone is also in the top ten recipients. In absolute amounts, only the USA with £28 billion and Germany with £19.5 billion give more foreign aid.
However, there is never enough money to make a real difference to the lives of immigrants. I believe that it is good policy to provide resources to displaced people in the countries to which they have fled. For example to the refugee camps in Jordan, Turkey and Bangladesh. Resources should also be allocated to regenerating the locations from which the displaced have fled so that one day they can return home if they want to. I suggest that our government could ring fence further money to help immigrants settle in here and also live in better conditions overseas. Two sources of this extra money for allocation to an asylum/refugee fund could be from the profits generated by arms deals and also from the UK’s Defence budget, which is expected to total £48.3 billion this Fiscal Year. It can be argued that the UK would benefit from such further aid in terms of security and maintaining standards of public services.
I shall conclude with a verse of poetry:
I have left the town where I was born
My country is empty, cold and war-torn.
My family was killed and I’m now all alone
Feeling frightened, my flesh scarcely hanging on bone.
I hope the place to which I flee
Will be kind and caring and nurture me.
People won’t stare and think I’m odd
For I, like them, am just a child of God.
For some years it was not Politically Correct to discuss immigration. Quite often, anyone who mentioned it was classified as a racist or, even worse, a nationalist with hints of Nazi Germany and skin colour discrimination in the background.
Today, the situation is very different. Newspapers, television and social media give wide coverage to immigration and it became a major factor in the 2016 Referendum on UK membership of the EU.
My reflection today is that I am aware that immigration is happening now on a massive scale, even though I am somewhat shielded from it. What should my attitude as a follower of Jesus be to this forced movement of millions of vulnerable people who have seen their families and homes destroyed?
Definition
I considered whether I should define immigration for the purpose of this Reflection. There is a legal definition in the UK Immigration Act but I felt that my own definition was more appropriate – an immigrant is someone born in one country who, for whatever reason, moves into another country for an extended period. However, I subsequently watched a BBC programme on the Crusades and was struck by the comment that the Crusaders responded to the Pope’s call for a Holy War because they felt the “Otherness” of the Muslims who were occupying Jerusalem. I realised that even someone from Lancashire could be regarded as an immigrant if they moved into Yorkshire (and vice-versa) because they could be seen as different. So I decided that I would focus on “displaced” people.
The World Today
Sadly today the number of displaced people is growing by the day and amounts to many millions across the world. The reason for displacement ranges from escape from persecution, death, war, natural disasters, collapse of the economy and, for some, the quest for a better quality of life.
For example, there are at least 3.5 million refugees fleeing from a corrupt and economically devastated Venezuela into Colombia. A migrant caravan of asylum seekers numbering many thousands is moving slowly from the violence and death in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador towards the southern border of the USA where the President is building a wall (or fence) to keep these migrants out.
Thousands of hopeful migrants are trying to reach Europe from the African continent and the Middle East. Many of them are sadly drowning in the Mediterranean before they can safely arrive in Europe. Tens of thousands are fleeing from Nigeria into Cameroun to escape the onslaught of the extreme Muslim sect Boko Haram. There are more millions who have had to move from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq into neighbouring countries as a result of the horrendous wars which have been inflicted on them in recent years. Some people are leaving Iran to escape the restrictive and corrupt regime there. In Asia, the Rohingya Muslims were driven out of Myanmar into Bangladesh as national soldiers destroyed their villages and killed and raped so many of the innocent inhabitants. Unfortunately, many of the countries to which the migrants are fleeing are not able to receive and accommodate them and need assistance to cope with the influx. There is a shortage of financial, medical and educational help. It is also a sad fact that a large number of the migrants have been forced to leave their home against their wishes. There are close to 200 countries which are members of the United Nations and this means that there a lot of national borders which can be crossed and countries unwittingly be affected by the displacement of so many people. The UN is trying to help refugees and receiving countries but is being overwhelmed by the vast numbers involved as well as the political obstruction of some UN member countries.
This problem of massive movements of people is not going to go away. For example, the population of Nigeria is currently around 190 million with an average age for the country of 18. It is estimated that if the present birth rate continues the population will have reached 400 million by 2030. This kind of population growth is being replicated in many other countries, which will not be able to support their increasing numbers. The worldwide population is expected to grow from the current 7.5 billion to 9 billion before the end of the century.
Europe
Many countries in the European Union have been greatly affected by the large numbers of destitute immigrants arriving across their border. Italy and Greece, both of which have financial problems, in particular are suffering from the influx of vulnerable immigrants. The EU as a whole is finding it difficult to agree on a policy to cope with the large and rapid flow of people, which for some is even threatening one of the EU’s principal pillars – the free movement of people between the member nations.
I had mixed feelings when Angela Merkel invited so many immigrants into Germany. Here was the most important EU political leader showing humane and caring values, even if there was an underlying subsidiary motive that the German population is ageing and showing signs of decline so that new young people will be needed in future. In just one year 890,000 immigrants arrived in Germany. There may though be a future problem for the largely Christian outlook and values which prevail currently in Europe because the majority of new immigrants are Muslims. For example, one estimate shows that within the next 30 years Muslims will account for 10% of the German population.
United Kingdom
Throughout its history, the UK has benefited from the inflow of immigrants, who have contributed to our economy and culture. Just two examples since World War 2 are the Windrush generation from the Caribbean and the Asians and Africans who fled from Idi Amin in Uganda and sought asylum in the UK.
For the present, the UK has been shielded from the current main flow of immigrants into Europe. We are a relatively small country with a population density of around 660 people per square mile. Within the EU only The Netherlands and Belgium have a higher population density than the UK. In contrast France, which has a similar size population to the UK, has a density of only around 300 per square mile.
Without making any political points, in the last 25 years one UK government allowed the free movement into the country of EU citizens, and East Europeans in particular, as a matter of policy to counter the effects of an ageing population and to stimulate economic growth. The next UK government pledged to reduce the volume of immigration because it claimed that the high level was unsustainable. There were insufficient schools, houses, hospitals and other infrastructure facilities to accommodate the newcomers and more time was needed to absorb the immigrants into our culture.
In my view, the policies of both these governments have failed. Labour’s virtually uncontrolled inflow of immigrants eventually led to the strengthening of UKIP and became a major factor leading to Brexit. “Take back control of our borders” appeared attractive to many voters. The Coalition and Conservative governments have failed to reduce the large number of immigrants. In the year to September 2018 net immigration into the UK was 283,000. For several years the annual numbers have been fairly stable with the inflow around 625,000 and the outflow around 345,000. More recently, fewer EU citizens have come into the UK but the reduction has been offset by more non-EU immigrants.
In many ways it makes sense to try to control the volume of immigrants so that the required facilities and infrastructure are progressively put in place to be able to provide appropriate living conditions and to absorb the newcomers into our culture.
A Dilemma
But – I am faced with a dilemma. I was raised as a youngster in Kent in the Presbyterian Church (with a strong Scottish influence!). Although I accept the Darwinian theory of evolution, embedded in my brain from my time in Sunday school is the wonderful description in Genesis of how God created the world and all that is in it. The Creation Story is the most concise and vivid description of how the world started and how we came to be here that you could wish to find. It is considered to be mythical but it has left one strong message in my brain and that is: this is God’s world and we are temporary stewards of it to protect and conserve it for future generations.
If this is so, it raises the question: what right do I or my Government have to stop other people who are made in God’s likeness from coming to live in the UK if they want to? What is it I am saying to a person who, for example, was born and lives in an arid desert in Africa or the Middle East? Or to a person born and living in the slums of one of the major cities in Asia or Latin America? “ Hard luck. You don’t have any clean water or medical and educational facilities but you must stay there until your relatively short life is over. You cannot come and live in the verdant pastures of the UK, even though it is part of God’s world”. I wonder: why shouldn’t they be able to aspire to a higher quality of life, possibly by coming to live in an economically developed country like the UK?
I am somewhat concerned and confused by these different attitudes to immigration. So, as a follower of the teachings of Jesus, I look in the Gospels to see what Jesus said or did in relation to immigration.
The Teaching of Jesus
Jesus was, of course, himself an immigrant and asylum seeker when his parents took him as a baby to Egypt to escape death at the hands of Herod. Jesus was also very aware of the immigrant history of the Jewish people, his ancestors. However, in the Gospel of Matthew, which was written for a Jewish readership, there is not much interaction recorded between Jesus and non-Jews. Jesus did heal the servant of a Roman officer in Capernaum but when he sent out his 12 disciples he instructed them not to go “to any Gentile territory or any Samaritan towns. Instead, you are to go to the lost sheep of the people of Israel”. When a Canaanite woman asked Jesus to heal her daughter who had a demon, Jesus replied “I have been sent only to the lost sheep of Israel” although he did subsequently heal the girl. Jesus did also have contact with a woman from Samaria at a water well but generally reports of his interaction with non-Jews are limited. After his resurrection Jesus did, though, tell his disciples “go then to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples…” .
If I cannot find direct guidance in the Gospels on what my attitude to mass migration should be, perhaps I can deduce it from consideration of the character of Jesus. This might be a slight diversion, but my understanding is that Jesus spent his life on earth as a human. Between the time of his birth and his crucifixion Jesus lived and behaved as a human, having resisted at the beginning of his Ministry the temptations of the devil to use “supernatural” powers as he spent 40 days in the wilderness.
Some of the scholars who have examined the Dead Sea Scrolls suggest that Jesus was an Essene, a member of that religious group who meticulously guarded the commandments and rituals set out in the Torah. Although it is recorded that Jesus was the son of a carpenter, it seems perfectly possible that Jesus was indeed a Rabbi. It does appear that Jesus was very interested in the Jewish Faith from an early age for it is recorded in Luke’s Gospel that when Jesus was 12 he sat in the temple “surrounded by the teachers, listening to them and putting questions; and all who heard him were amazed at his intelligence and the answers he gave”. After his baptism by John the Baptist and his rejection of the temptations, Jesus “taught in their synagogues and all men sang his praises”. In Nazareth, “Jesus went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day as he regularly did. He stood up to read the lesson and was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah”. In Capernaum, Jesus “taught the people on the Sabbath and they were astounded at his teaching for what he said had the note of authority”. Shortly after this, Jesus said “I must give the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns also, for that is what I was sent to do. So he proclaimed the Gospel in the synagogues of Judea”.
When the Jewish religious authorities tried to trap Jesus with difficult or critical questions so that they could stop him undermining their strict teaching, Jesus usually responded with a quotation from the Torah or the books of the Prophets. He had a deep knowledge of the Jewish religious books and history and it is possible that he had spent some of his early years studying to become a Rabbi and because of this training was allowed to preach in the synagogues. Jesus was an intelligent man and would have had access to the knowledge of other nations. In view of the many healings which he and his disciples performed, it is possible that Jesus also had studied medicine.
If this conjecture is right, the Baptism of Jesus could have been the beginning of his second Ministry when he broke loose from the restrictive teachings of the Jewish religious authorities and started to preach a positive Gospel of the spiritual Kingdom of God. His emphasis was away from the strict observance of the letter of the Jewish law as taught and imposed by the authorities and on to the love of God and its meaning for everyday life.
Conclusion
Therefore, I believe that the attitude of Jesus to the problems of immigration today would have been full of common sense and of love for other human beings. Jesus did accept the structure of a State, saying “Render unto Caesar that which belongs to Caesar”. He also acknowledged the Jewish religious authorities: “the doctors of the law and the Pharisees sit in the chair of Moses; therefore do what they tell you; pay attention to their words. But do not follow their practice; for they say one thing and do another”.
A major teaching of Jesus, known as the Great Commandment, is: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind”. The second most important commandment is like it: “Love your neighbour as you love yourself”. Treat others as you would like them to treat you.
This suggests that his followers today should treat immigrants with respect, sympathy and generosity. At times in history Church buildings have been a location for people to find sanctuary. Today we say that like the early Christians it is the Christian believers who are God’s church, not the buildings, and we should offer and provide sanctuary.
At a personal and practical level we can financially support charities such as Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) and the British Red Cross who are daily supporting and helping displaced people. We can also lobby Members of Parliament personally or through like-minded groups to develop and implement policies which address the problems of immigrants, whether they be asylum seekers or economic migrants. Often, governments impose sanctions on countries with whose policies they disagree but this tends to harm the ordinary and vulnerable citizens in that country and creates an environment for more displaced people.
Our country continues to be generous with official aid to overseas countries in need. The UK government has legislated that 0.7% of the UK’s Gross National Income must be allocated to foreign aid. This will amount to £14.5 billion this year and it will increase in future as the economy grows. The top two recipients of this aid are Pakistan and Syria, both Muslim countries, while Sierra Leone is also in the top ten recipients. In absolute amounts, only the USA with £28 billion and Germany with £19.5 billion give more foreign aid.
However, there is never enough money to make a real difference to the lives of immigrants. I believe that it is good policy to provide resources to displaced people in the countries to which they have fled. For example to the refugee camps in Jordan, Turkey and Bangladesh. Resources should also be allocated to regenerating the locations from which the displaced have fled so that one day they can return home if they want to. I suggest that our government could ring fence further money to help immigrants settle in here and also live in better conditions overseas. Two sources of this extra money for allocation to an asylum/refugee fund could be from the profits generated by arms deals and also from the UK’s Defence budget, which is expected to total £48.3 billion this Fiscal Year. It can be argued that the UK would benefit from such further aid in terms of security and maintaining standards of public services.
I shall conclude with a verse of poetry:
I have left the town where I was born
My country is empty, cold and war-torn.
My family was killed and I’m now all alone
Feeling frightened, my flesh scarcely hanging on bone.
I hope the place to which I flee
Will be kind and caring and nurture me.
People won’t stare and think I’m odd
For I, like them, am just a child of God.
