Asylum seeker hotel plan generates huge reaction
CLOSING a Mirfield hotel to the public so it can house asylum seekers generated a huge reaction from readers with more than 300 comments registered.
The two-star, 28 bed Metro Inns, in Leeds Road, opposite Miller and Carter, is now closed to the public with the Home Office saying it was a temporary measure while more suitable longerterm accommodation was found.
The move found support from Kirklees councillor Vivien Lees-Hamilton (Con, Mirfield), who said the asylum seekers needed to be somewhere safe with a roof over their heads but was worried about their isolation as the area has no shops and medical facilities with poor transport links.
One woman wrote on Mirfield Matters:
“The hotel is a bloody dump and great it’s being put to good use.
“The issue is that people are entering our country and been given a safe place to stay while they wait for the paperwork etc to be sorted... but what about the hundreds that line our shop doorways night after night that don’t need paperwork to stay here - isn’t there room to help them too maybe?”
While one man joked: “Even asylum seekers deserve better than this!”
Depressingly, there were the inevitably racist and sub-racist comments.
One person wrote: “I like the councillor’s comments. They need a roof over their heads, nowhere to eat, no medical facility nearby, no transport links. Isolated in a strange country etc, etc.
“Pardon me but nobody forced them here! They forced their way here. Humanely we are looking after them. But what next?”
But one woman called for an end to the negativity.
She wrote: “All I see when I read this is that I’m lucky to have been born into a country like the UK. I’m proud, (most of the time) to live in a country where people can come and finally feel safe and at ease.
“We are all human and we all deserve to feel at peace. Stop with the negativity and try put yourself in the position of an asylum seeker.
“I know full well I would be doing what I feel is best for my family and whether that means to flee from a country then so be it!”
And one man wrote: “As we heard throughout the Brexit campaign, the UK is the 7th largest economy in the world.
“Therefore we should be able to look after our own citizens and do our bit to help our fellow human beings from other countries who, through no fault of their own, have found themselves in desperate circumstances.”