There's A World Of Difference Between The Two, Though...

Four decades ago, my parents were Cambodian refugees. As high school students, they were thrown into one of the darkest chapters of humanity’s history, surviving nearly five years in forced labour camps under the Khmer Rouge genocide. An estimated 2.7 million of my kin perished during that time. Fortunately for my family, they were accepted under Australia’s humanitarian program and arrived in Australia on 26 January, a date heavy with complexity for Australian identity, and our refugee story became another layer within it.

The 'Guardian' appears to have managed to pick a solid, genuine refugee for a change, astonishingly enough. I wonder why? 

Volunteers from around the world stepped into the chaos where states, borders and institutions had failed. Among them were nurses from the US who gave their time, skill and care in conditions few would willingly choose. One nurse, in particular, took my parents under her wing. She helped them navigate medical checks, paperwork, survival and dignity. She cared for them, and for me, as if we were her own family. She was from Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Ah, I see why now. 

Four decades later, another Minnesotan nurse would lose his life supporting migrants in distress. Alex Pretti was shot by ICE agents and made the ultimate sacrifice in service to others.

No, made it to an ideology pretty much the same as that your parents once fled from. 

I watched this unfold on the news in horror, sitting side by side in front of the television with the nurse who had saved my family’s life. Sandra Evenson, a humble Minnesotan nurse...

And drawing some sort of parallel, erroneously. 

We are living through a time when migrants and refugees are increasingly dehumanised, politicised and reduced to slogans. In the US, aggressive ICE raids, including in Minnesota, have torn families apart in the name of enforcement and spectacle. Fear has become a tool of governance. In Australia, far-right groups are undermining the very fabric of our social and economic success, and one of the cornerstones of our regional security: multiculturalism.

Who are these dreamers, these creators of obvious fiction in service to a failed ideology? 

Rathana Chea is CEO of the Multicultural Leadership Initiative and co-CEO of global social impact consultancy The Rathana Group, co-chair of Asian Australians for Climate Solutions and on the board of New York-based Mobilisation Lab

Oh. Of course. 

"People are telling us that they feel less safe and less welcome in the UK."

Working as intended, then?

The British Red Cross and the Refugee Council, which worked with nearly 44,000 people in the asylum process, warn that they are disappearing from hotels and are reluctant to claim support for fear of deportation, detention and other harsh measures.

Who didn't see this coming? Hopefully the Home Office have read some hunting literature and discovered the term 'flushing from cover'... 

This being the 'Guardian', let's see what sort of sob stories they can find:

Those supported by the Red Cross include:

An Afghan man living in temporary accommodation in the east Midlands who disclosed that he had gone into hiding, fearing that he would be detained and sent to Rwanda. He said that many of his friends were in the same situation and planned to go underground.

So it's not about safety and never was. He and his friends (how is he still in touch with them, I wonder) just target Britain. 

An asylum seeker from Ethiopia based in the West Midlands said that he feels anxious about the passing of the Nationality and Borders Act and disclosed he had left his accommodation out of fear that he will be sent to Rwanda.

What's the 'danger' in Ethiopia? Civil war? Drought? Won't he be at least in his own continent in Rwanda? 

An Afghan asylum seeker also based in the West Midlands who said he feels he is a second-class refugee as he is not eligible for recent schemes designed to support Ukrainians.

Ah. That's because you're not Ukranian. Funny how that works, eh?

Nothing unusual there. Absolutely no-one who anyone with their head screwed on could possibly have any sympathy for. It's amazing how they always manage not to find a genuinely worthwhile 'victim', isn't it?

And Your Efforts Will Be for Nothing...

"On behalf of the Crown Prosecution Service, I would like to pay tribute to the courageous and dignified way N'Taya's family and friends have conducted themselves during the entire legal process.

They have had to hear the most traumatic evidence relating to their beautiful daughter during the trial. "

Not the least of which was their daughter's fatal stupidity in choice of partner: 

Liverpool Crown Court heard Diakite was previously accused of assaulting his partner in October 2020. However, the next day, after police had visited their Prince Alfred Road home and recorded the young mum's allegations on bodycam, she made a retraction statement.

/facepalm 

Diakite, of Prince Alfred Road, Wavertree, will be sentenced on Monday, March 21. High Court judge, Mr Justice Stephen Morris, directed that the asylum seeker, from the Ivory Coast, must attend court for that hearing.

Anyone aware of any wars on the Ivory Coast that might have provided a need to seek asylum? No? Me neither... 

DCI Speight said:"We have increased the number of officers in our specialist domestic abuse teams and have also used domestic violence prevention notices, as well as the Domestic Violence Disclosure Schemes (DVDS), also known as Clare's Law, which gives someone in a relationship 'the right to ask' for information from various agencies, including the police, about a partner's previous convictions, cautions, reprimands or final warnings for any offence of violence."

And until women choose their partners with more care and - when that proves a mistake in spite of it - take action to protect themselves, it'll be yet another waste of time.