Migrant fear

The dehumanisation of desperate migrants continued over the weekend (“Minister: ‘Migrants threaten our living standards’, 10 August) as Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond took a leaf out of David Cameron’s dictionary of disparaging terminology and referred to “marauding” migrants from Africa.

Just to be clear, that word means “in search of people to attack or things to steal”.

What we are seeing in the Mediterranean and at Calais is fundamentally a refugee crisis, which is happening globally, not just in Europe, and it is extremely worrying to see yet another senior minister fail or refuse to face up to that.

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Rather than using inflammatory language and scaremongering tactics about how Europe must “protect” itself from migrants, Mr Hammond should be working with EU partners to ensure that people don’t drown in the Mediterranean or get crushed beneath lorries at Calais.

We should be ensuring that all EU countries, including the UK, accept their responsibilities for providing protection to people fleeing from conflicts and brutal regimes.

Countries such as Lebanon, Ethiopia and Chad host far more refugees than the UK and other European countries, which makes the Foreign Secretary’s mean-spirited response even more shameful.

Naomi McAuliffe

Amnesty International – Scotland

St Andrew Square

Edinburgh

I am totally unimpressed with the latest announcement by this government to crack down on employers who hire illegal immigrants. Is “crack down” a euphemism for “nothing can be done about it”? This seems to be the government’s latest sticking plaster on the immigrant crisis.

All resources should be concentrated on securing our borders, using the army to search every vehicle on arrival at UK ports and illegal immigrants being sent straight back to France.

Things will only change if there is a referendum on EU membership as soon as possible, with voters in Britain putting Britain first by deciding to exit the EU.

Gordon Kennedy

Simpson Square

Perth

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