Medical Malpractice

Why do people think asylum seeker is another word for illegal immigrant?

They are refugees, fleeing from war and persecuation, but the more irresponsible press try to mix them up in our mind with illegal immigrants and chancers. Are you bright enough to know they aren't.

Public Comments

1. because people are ill educated by the press. A point that Heather Mills is trying to make at the moment and is being slated for it
2. In general, people don't seem to want to know any facts or acquire any understanding...they just seem to want to be able to express their bigotry and hatred. Everyone bangs on about wanting a sensible debate about multiculturalism, and then in the next sentence they are saying things like...'send them all back'! I think we just have to accept that some people want to find a way forward while others just want to go backwards!
3. This is because the system has for years been abused by those seeking to enter the country by-passing the necessary procedures. They know the Government is so concerned with their human rights that once they're here they can either apply for benefits and housing whilst waiting for their claim to be considered, or simply 'disappear' and live comfortably 'under the radar'. It is rare asylum seekers get here without first having already passed through several other apparently less desirable countries.
4. I am but then most of the BNP, Enoch Powell love in people on here would disagree with you. how many have actually read a lot of Powells speech's like his one in support of the South African apartheid system. are his anti-catholic statements and not say eh the guy was a racist and Bigot. who was a huge xenophobic scare little man. who saw himself as superior and his race to all others.
5. I think, unfortunately, that most people lump everyone together because understanding the difference is beyond their capabilities. When you have lived a privileged life, as almost anyone in the developed world has, it is truly beyond the capabilities of most to understand the true suffering of others around the world. And in the same turn it is impossible for them to differentiate between a person who is just breaking the law and a person who had the courage to not just want a better life, but to reach for it.
6. no. Asylum seeker is someone who is following the legal procedures and applying for asylum. Illegal immigrant is someone who is not playing by the rules.
7. an asylum seeker is somebody that is fleeing his or her home country because of persecution or war. and illegal immigrant is something completely different. these get mixed up my neocons and people that watch FOX.
8. Because they are uneducated. The same way some people think getting your citizenship means getting a green card.
9. I am "bright enough" to know that some are indeed genuine refugees fleeing persecution and war. I am also "bright enough" to know that some are fraudsters who just want to get into the county. Some go "missing" from their detention centres and become illegals. Some end up in 5 bed council houses on £30,000 benefits per year (despite never having paid any taxes into the British economy) whilst British pensioners who have worked all their lives can't afford to eat and keep warm? Fair? Don't think so.
10. Because they are unwilling to learn otherwise. And sure some people may think they are, "bright enough", to know the difference between asylum seekers and illegal immigrants, but they still believe there is such a thing as bogus ayslum seekers: http://www.oxfamgb.org/ukpp/safe/myths5.htm and will never tell you just how much asylum seekers contribute to this country: http://www.oxfamgb.org/ukpp/safe/myths4.htm
11. of course they are not, the fact that they are granted asylum mean they are legally entitled to stay in the country, and have a good reason to be here.
12. We don't know how many people who come here asking for asylum are not actually coming for the benefits. Far to many if there is even one. However, it is very, very logical if those folks who see asylum go to a country with the same language and similar customs. Coming to the United States means that person almost always winds up on welfare for the rest of their lives, and far to frequently, are very unhappy with the circumstance.
13. Because they spend too much time reading right wing scare mongering newspapers such as the Daily Mail and watch brain-deadening programmes such as Jeremy Kyle and Trisha. Some of these dimwits then even go on to blame asylum seekers for shortfalls in their own miserable existences and those who support them are branded as "middle class twits" to quote some imbecile who uses this site.
14. they are...IGNORANT..that's why
15. Look up the definition of racist ffs!! Enoch Powell was a realist not a racist.
16. Are you bright enough to see that all the " asylum seekers" fleeing persecution, are single men?. Their families are left behind in a dangerous country whilst they seek asylum, not in the first safe country they come to, but the one with the most generous benefits and opportunity to work illegally. To get to the UK, they will have passed through several European countries. We are a small overcrowded island. We cannot go on taking in all the worlds waifs and strays. To make this country the great place that it is today, our forefathers had to sacrifice their lives. Are we going to give it all away to illegal immigrants who are here to exploit our generosity?. Wait until unfettered immigration starts to affect your left leaning, liberal lifestyle and you'll be the ones screaming the loudest about immigrants!.
17. There are a few clues. They don't claim asylum in the first safe country they come to. Their families are free to follow them. They commit the sort of crimes that get them 'persecuted' by our own authorities.