Brandon To is a Politics graduate from UCL and a Hong Kong BN(O) immigrant settled in Harrow.
Britain almost deported a man whom Communist China wanted to imprison.
Let that sink in.
Whilst Beijing spent years trying to silence Wu Chi-wai, Britain almost sent him away.
At the same time, thousands of working-age men continued crossing Europe’s borders illegally, many arriving without permission before claiming asylum.
If those two stories do not expose everything that is wrong with our asylum system, nothing will.
Wu Chi-wai is not an anonymous migrant. He is the former chairman of Hong Kong’s Democratic Party, and one of the leading figures in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. He spent more than four years in prison, having been prosecuted under Beijing’s new National Security Law.
Unlike many asylum seekers, Wu did not arrive without documents or with an uncertain identity. He travelled legally using a British National (Overseas) passport, a status Britain itself created because it recognised its historic obligations to the people of Hong Kong.
His identity is beyond dispute. His persecution has been documented by governments and international media. Few political asylum cases could be more straightforward.
Yet when he landed at Heathrow, he was detained for hours and initially informed that he would be removed from Britain in 7 days’ time.
How did the easy case become the difficult one?
I say that, somewhere along the way, our asylum system failed to differentiate between the real refugees who deserve our help.
As someone who came to Britain legally, I have never believed compassion and border control are opposites. In fact, public generosity depends upon public confidence. People are willing to welcome genuine refugees because they expect governments to be able to distinguish the real ones from the opportunists.
Today, that distinction seemed to have failed.
Almost two-fifths of all asylum claims in Britain now originate from people arriving by small boat. Last year alone, roughly 101,000 people claimed asylum in Britain.
Some of those claims may ultimately prove genuine. Others will not. That is precisely why they require investigation.
Unlike Wu Chi-wai, many applicants arrive with destroyed identity documents, or unproven claims of persecution. Officials must determine who they are, where they came from and whether their claims are credible.
But that is also consuming extraordinary amounts of public money and administrative effort.
Britain now spends around £4 billion each year supporting asylum seekers. More than £2.1 billion is spent on hotel accommodation alone – close to £5.8 million every single day. Hotels account for roughly three-quarters of accommodation spending despite housing only around one-third of those receiving asylum support.
Most importantly, some of these illegal immigrants are very clever opportunists. They know every legal loophole to manipulate the system. For example, an investigation revealed that traffickers often teach migrants to dispose of their passports into the sea before landing, so the Home Office must spend time establishing their country of origin. And where are they staying in the meantime? You know the answer.
Or there is the notorious Article 8 of ECHR. When selling cocaine in Britain and ruining the lives of countless families, Albanian drug dealers like Shpresim Koka and Eldjort Ajazi never fulfilled their responsibility as fathers. But then, when they were being convicted and deported, they suddenly became the most loving parents, claiming any punishment is “unduly harsh“ to their children and partners.
So what about the wives and kids of the drug addicts? Isn’t allowing these drug dealers to stay in Britain “unduly harsh” to them too?
Drug dealers may not find themselves deported in 7 years, yet one of the world’s best-known political prisoners still found himself almost deported in 7 days.
That’s how overwhelmed, how ironic, and sadly, how utterly broken our immigration system has become.
Britain should never apologise for offering sanctuary to those fleeing dictatorship and political persecution. That is one of our country’s finest traditions. But this compassion is now exploited to such an extent that genuine political refugees are turned away, while opportunists are invited in with wide open arms.
I sometimes think British Hong Kongers misunderstood how Britain’s immigration system works.
We foolishly believed that travelling legally, carrying valid documents and respecting immigration rules would make entry easier.
Poor Mr Wu.
Perhaps he should have taken a dinghy towards the White Cliffs of Dover. In Vera Lynn’s time there were bluebirds over them. Today, there’ll probably be coaches waiting to escort you to a 4-star hotel in Canary Wharf. Oh, and don’t forget to ask your family to shed some crocodiles’ tears. You’ll never have to worry about deportation again.
The biggest mistake Wu Chi-wai made wasn’t opposing the Chinese Communist Party.
It was arriving at Heathrow instead of Dover.