Viral thread shows reasons why refugees pass through other European countries to get to the UK

As conversations about migration continue to divide people, a viral thread has revealed the reasons why refugees come to the UK over other European countries.

The right-wing argument that refugees crossing the channel are already in a safe country in France has been busted in the Twitter thread by lawyer Jennifer Blair.

She revealed that she has asked refugees why they decided to travel on from European countries to the UK and the results are upsetting.

First, she explained: “I asked a Sudanese boy who had badly broken his leg on his third attempt to get on a moving lorry from France.

“He had not been allowed to claim asylum in France and had been beaten by police. He'd heard he'd have a fair hearing in the UK.”

She continued: “I asked an Albanian victim of human trafficking who said he needed to get as far away from the traffickers as possible and as an island not in Schengen it'd be harder for the traffickers to find him and abduct him here.

“He had also hidden on a lorry.”

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By speaking to more refugees, Blair revealed some were trying to unite with family in the UK while others had been made homeless and beaten by police in disgusting camps in Europe.

At the end of her thread, she revealed that all of the refugees she had spoken to were recognised as refugees by the UK, emphasising the need for safe routes to the UK.

Blair wrote: “Want to know what these people all had in common (apart from coherent, sensible reasons for not 'staying' in the first European country they came to) - they were all then recognised as refugees in the UK.”

The thread comes as the Conservative government and Home Office tried to relocate refugees in the UK to Rwanda under a highly controversial scheme. The first plane set to leave for the country was later cancelled after last-minute legal intervention from the European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday evening.

Many praised Blair for her thread and for highlighting the tragic human stories behind the numbers that are often used as scaremongering by politicians.

One person wrote: “Superb thread from Jennifer Blair that turns refugees from nameless statistics into real people, with very real needs and compelling stories.”

Another said: “Well worth reading and sharing this thread. So much deliberate misinformation out there about asylum seekers. This will help dispel the myths and lies.”

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