‘Now I know I’m human’: Asylum seekers ‘ripped out of the community’ praise kind Londoners

A teaching union branch has condemned the Home Office for moving about 30 asylum seeker students from a hotel in Greenwich with a few hours notice, “ripping them out of the community”.

On February 6, 130 asylum seekers were told they would be moved to a hotel in Bedfordshire the next morning.

The Lewisham and Southwark branch of the University and College Union has said the move was “devastating”, with at least 30 students taken away from the college.

One of the asylum seekers called Ahmad was studying English at Lewisham College in Lewisham Way and has been moved to the new hotel.

He claimed there were two or three ambulances arriving at the hotel every day because “people are so depressed”.

“I’m feeling so terrible,” he said. “I’ve spent almost 17 months in London waiting for documents from the Home Office. No one has called us for an interview. Some people in the hotel have been waiting three to four years. There’s a problem with the system.

“We want to start living as a good citizen of this country.”

Ahmad said he received the news he would be moving within a few hours at around 4pm.

“They’re not dealing with us as human. So shocking, so terrible,” he said. “Some boys said they would not go. We had to go, we had no choice.”

Ahmad said he had just started an English class the week before and was “so happy” about it.

“I thought I had found my route to be a good part of this community,” he said. “In just one night I learned so much.

“Since we came here we lost the community. We had problems but we tried to be happy there. We’ve left friends and the community behind.”

Ahmad made the dangerous journey to the UK from Afghanistan when the Government there fell on August 15 last year.

The country has been taken over by the Taliban, an extremist group who, among other restrictions of freedoms, have banned women from formal education.

Ahmad worked in the education ministry and was one of the reported million people forced to leave the country.

Ahmad said: “I have nightmares about those days. I don’t know what would’ve happened to me if I had stayed there. My family are still in hiding there.

“I came from dangerous country, when I started being a small part of this community I saw how good the people are here. The people of South London are extraordinary and like angels to us.

“Now I know I’m human. They were treating us like a good human, I appreciate it so much.”

Ahmad said his new hotel was much nicer than the one in Greenwich could not understand why the Government continued to spend millions of pounds housing asylum seekers in hotels when they could “accelerate the visa process”.

“We could contribute to the economy of this country,” he said. “I could get a job and pay taxes, instead they keep us in these expensive hotels.”

Anne-Marie O’Reilly, an English teacher at Lewisham College, said three of her students had been in the Greenwich hotel.

“They’ve been ripped out of the community,” she said. “It’s a huge loss. Some of them were on track for big achievements this year. There were young learners moved too who are so vulnerable.

“This Government’s hostile environment is life or death when vulnerable people are involved. This shouldn’t be happening. Asylum seekers need to be able to build their own lives.”

A Home Office spokeswoman said: “We continue to provide safe accommodation for destitute asylum seekers who need it as we work to end the use of hotels, which are costing UK taxpayers almost £6million a day.

“Individuals housed in our accommodation may be moved to other locations in line with the Allocation of Accommodation guidance.”

Pictured top: Lewisham College students show their support for their fellow pupils who have been taken away (Picture: Lewisham and Southwark University and College Union)