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Locals who blocked asylum barges say Home Office misjudges public opinion [1]
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Date: 2023-08
Residents who stopped 1,000 asylum seekers from being housed on a “prison ship” in the north of England say the government has misjudged the British public with its draconian immigration laws.
Teessiders were spurred to act in June, after it was reported that ministers were seeking to house asylum seekers on a cruise ship moored in Teesport, near Middlesbrough.
Feeling this “would cause significant harm to people fleeing war and persecution”, more than 200 locals and dozens of charities signed a letter asking the port operator, PD Ports, “not to take any part in plans to create a floating prison on the Tyne”.
“People seeking asylum should be able to live as members of our communities while they wait for a decision on their asylum claim, not warehoused in barges or ships,” the letter said.
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The following day, PD Ports ruled out allowing the ship to moor. It said it could not “see a situation in which public services would be able to provide the appropriate support for such accommodation”.
In a statement, the firm continued: “It simply would not be viable to facilitate any such accommodation to dock at one of our berths, which are in constant operation and have heavily restricted access for health and safety reasons.”
Just weeks later, it was reported that both boats acquired by the Home Office had been returned to their owners because the government had been unable to find a port that would accept them.
Teessiders have told openDemocracy that home secretary Suella Braverman is wrong to justify her crackdown on immigration by claiming it is the “will of the British people”.
They hope others will follow their example and stand up to the government elsewhere.
Ian Jeffrery, a community activist and retired chemical engineer who worked at the local manufacturing plant throughout his career, said Teessiders are supportive of asylum seekers.
“People here have always been very welcoming to people from different countries and backgrounds. In my ward, we have the largest number of asylum seekers in the whole of the borough of Redcar and Cleveland, and they’ve always been welcomed and well-integrated into the community,” he said.
Middlesbrough and neighbouring Stockton-on-Tees have some of the highest numbers of refugees per head in England.
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[1] Url:
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/asylum-barges-teesside-liverpool-pd-ports-peel-ports-local-protest-braverman-home-office/
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