The controversy over the lack of passport checks at UK airports which has created a major political storm around Home Secretary Theresa May was never going leave asylum seekers unaffected.

Right wing newspapers have used the row as a further excuse to trot out their familiar line attacking migrants, foreigners in general and, of course, the easiest target of all; asylum seekers.

The Daily Telegraph on 13^th November was a case in point: Under a headline stating ‘UK border checks are a bad joke: whistleblower claims’ the newspaper started its front page story with the following claim: ‘Dangerous asylum seekers are being released into the community as UK Border Agency staff struggle to cope with the increasing number of foreigners entering the country, a whistleblower has claimed.’

There is a saying among journalists. Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.

So what are the facts in this case? Several paragraphs into the story the reporter has this to say:  ‘The source described a recent incident in London, when an asylum seeker suffering from schizophrenia and epilepsy "went beserk" after border agency staff arrived at his flat. The man should have been kept at a secure facility for his own safety, the whistleblower claimed, but there were no beds available because of stretched resources.’

So there we have it. There are not hoards of ‘dangerous asylum seekers’ roaming the streets. The story bases this assertion on the case of one individual. And there is nothing in the article to substantiate the claim that this incident was in any way connected with the current controversy concerning the relaxation of passport checks. But then again, the article doesn’t exactly say this. The opening paragraph, quoted earlier, merely mentions ‘Dangerous asylum seekers’ in the same breathe as UK Border Agency staff. It’s guilt by association, if you like. The newspaper hopes the reader will not bother to analyse what is written too closely and, of course, they won’t because what is there merely reinforces their prejudice.

But it makes good copy, it makes things difficult for the Home Secretary who is not very popular with sections of the right wing press, and the innocent parties in all this are asylum seekers who don’t matter anyway.

Ironically, the story goes on to chide the Government for producing figures for immigration and asylum that are “deeply misleading.”  What’s that other saying about the pot and the kettle?

Phil Cooper 17/11/11