Government plans are ‘really worrying’, refugee tells BBCpublished at 20:34 GMT 17 November
James Cook
Scotland editor
Motaz, 20, a student at
Glasgow University who is originally from Yemen, said the home secretary’s
plans were wrong in principle and would not deter
desperate people from travelling to the UK.
“It won’t stop people
from coming here because people are fleeing persecution, people are fleeing
wars, people are fleeing conflicts,” he said.
As a nine-year-old boy,
Motaz fled war and persecution in his homeland, travelling to Saudi Arabia and
Greece, before arriving in the UK in 2022 aged 16 with his parents and two siblings,
where they successfully sought asylum.
Motaz who is studying
engineering, robotics and artificial intelligence, told BBC News the certainty of being granted refugee status in the UK had
helped him to integrate.
“I felt
that kind of sense of belonging and I felt that ability to contribute, the
ability to call this place my home, the ability to help my local
community,” he explained.
Motaz described
the idea that people might have to wait up to 20 years before they could be
sure of their right to remain in the UK as “really worrying”.
“It makes me really
feel disappointed because as someone that is really integrated and someone that
is part of the community, I know that the main issue we’re facing is not
migration.”
He added: “I think the
phrase that has been used by the home secretary is that illegal migration is
dividing our country. I think, yes, it is dividing our country because
politicians talk about it non-stop and they don’t really focus on the issues that
the communities are facing.”