Watching the footage of yet more protestors at asylum seeker hotels over the weekend was deeply upsetting.
When I read some of the disgusting language used to describe the residents of these hotels, I think about the people I know personally through volunteering with them – and nothing could be further from the truth.
I think of Hadnan (37), a calm and focused university lecturer who came here from Afghanistan, and is married to a teacher.
I think of Aristide from the Ivory Coast who was forced to flee his home country due to his involvement in opposition politics and was devastated when his brother died and he couldn’t attend the funeral.
Of Kevin, who fled persecution in Namibia and was too scared to leave his hotel room for two days during recent protests outside.
And Said (24), a gentle soul from Sudan, who survived torture in a Libyan detention centre on his way to attempted safety in Europe.
All of them are unique, complex humans, and all of them have suffered in their lives, suffering that is exacerbated by these recent protests.
I wish those who shout hatred at asylum seekers, whether outside the hotel or online, could meet the people I volunteer with.
If they spent even a few hours in the company of people like Said or Hadnan, I know their opinions would change.
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Kevin’s story
Kevin (33) left Namibia after his life was put in danger for not conforming to what was expected of him by the traditional authorities.
He has been living in a hotel for two years and eight months — the same hotel that became the focus of an anti-immigration protest.
The protest began with local residents and later drew support from far-right groups across the country. But the number of people who turned out in support of asylum seekers was notably larger.
Today, the hotel has huge black gates and looks like a prison.
Talking about the protest, Kevin recalls: ‘It’s been a horrible time for everyone in the hotel. From when we first heard about the protests to now. I didn’t leave the hotel on the day before and the day of the protest. In fact, I didn’t even leave my room. Thankfully I had some food in my room so I was able to eat. I missed the football session.
‘People are scared even now and many only leave the hotel if they have to. And they check outside beforehand to see if anyone suspicious is hanging around.
‘People protesting say that asylum seekers don’t want to work, but it’s the government policies that don’t allow us to work. If I was allowed to work, I could pay for my own accommodation and food and I would prefer that. I could also pay my taxes which would help contribute to the British economy.’
I began volunteering three years ago with Care4Calais, a refugee charity that works in the UK and Europe, after a friend asked me to help run football sessions to improve their wellbeing.
At first, I was hesitant — busy and unsure if I’d be any good. But from my very first Saturday organising matches, I was hooked. We have so much fun.
Honestly, it’s the most purposeful thing I’ve ever done. For the asylum seekers and refugees, the football pitch is a rare space of solace and joy amid enormous stress.
That stress is only increasing over the past few weeks.
Despite everything many have endured, they are among the kindest, funniest, most thoughtful people I’ve ever met. I would trust them with my life. The people I fear more are thugs at anti-immigration rallies.
I hear people saying that asylum seekers come here to claim benefits. In reality, most never wanted to leave their home countries, and are given precious little support.
They fled because staying meant persecution, imprisonment, or death. That is precisely why the UK helped create the 1951 UN Refugee Convention – initially to ensure protection for people forced to flee after the horrors of the Second World War.
I also know first hand how damaging the claim that asylum seekers are living it up in ‘luxury hotels’ can be.
In the two hotels where I know people, the reality is very different: people crammed into small rooms, bland food that is often inedible, no choice over meals, and no facilities for cooking.
These facilities are not run out of generosity but by private contractors whose main aim is profit. Between September 2019 and August 2024, three companies — Clearsprings, Serco and Mears — made £383 million from asylum housing contracts.
The National Audit Office found that hotels cost £145 per person per night, compared with just £14 for dispersal accommodation, such as flats and shared houses.
The people I work with would rather stay in that type of accommodation than hotels.
Many refugees have been stuck in hotels for over three years, living on £8 a week and, most crushingly, banned from working.
I remember one footballer from Ethiopia who was so distressed when his sister became homeless in South Sudan that he started delivering takeaways illegally to send her money.
Later, he was granted refugee status – meaning the government accepted he was in genuine need of protection – and was finally allowed to work and pay taxes.
Hadnan’s story
Hadnan Nasery is a former lecturer at Kabul University. He fled Afghanistan after the Taliban took power.
‘Asylum seekers and refugees are like everyone else. There’s good and bad. I don’t like how we are simply not trusted and respected as human beings because we are asylum seekers/refugees. To me, this is the basic definition of racism. We should not be outcast from society. There needs to be more understanding of what we have been through and why we are here.
‘Sadly, politicians are feeding this racist rhetoric for their own political agenda. They are doing it for the votes, even if they don’t believe it personally. And that’s where I see that politics and the media are inter-connected. Some politicians see the popularity of the far right and think they have to reflect these views to win.
‘In my experience, the majority of people in the UK are kind and accepting towards us, but sometimes people have given me and fellow asylum seekers weird looks or have said why are you getting all this support when we need it too. I understand that.
‘Many people have their own problems in the UK and the government needs to help them. But that shouldn’t put people against us, as we have not chosen to leave our home countries. We had no choice.
‘I am grateful to the UK for granting me asylum here, but it’s not been without its challenges. In the hotel, we were given less than £9 a week and that did not cover basic necessities. I couldn’t afford to take the Tube, for example.
‘I wanted to earn money, but we weren’t allowed to work.
‘Now I am allowed to work, I’m prepared to do anything to meet my final goal of being a teacher. I want to be an active member of society and make a positive contribution to this country that has offered me sanctuary.’
But those three wasted years could have been spent contributing legally to society and supporting his family with dignity.
So many of our asylum laws make no sense. The Conservative government branded people ‘illegal’ for exercising their right under international law to seek asylum, while simultaneously closing almost every safe route to the UK.
Sadly, over the past year, Labour has too often echoed this same hostile approach, rather than challenging it.
Both parties seem to want to use asylum seekers as scapegoats for economic and social problems they did not cause.
It is shameful to blame vulnerable people for this country’s difficulties. I believe politicians should stop pandering to the far right and instead champion true British values: compassion, integration and fairness.
I know from experience that asylum seekers want nothing more than to live in safety, work hard, pay taxes, and give back to the country that offered them sanctuary. They don’t deserve what is happening outside hotel accommodation that they didn’t choose to live in.
My own life has been immeasurably enriched by knowing them. And I am not alone. Care4Calais has around a thousand volunteers in the UK and hundreds more who visit Calais who see the same richness and strength that diversity brings.
So why can’t our leaders? I wish they would meet just some of the people I work with, then I’m sure they would discover what so many of us already know: that welcoming those fleeing war and persecution does not weaken Britain, but strengthens it.
Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing Ross.Mccafferty@metro.co.uk.
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