I write this petition amongst heavy tensions in the Carlisle community regarding the ‘city of sanctuary’ status.

Post Covid our city and streets have drastically changed from what they once were. The demographic has changed so substantially that even a blind man can see the change in our streets. Just a few months ago we had an asylum seeker ( who the papers deemed as a Carlisle man) run rampant with a knife in a community of Carlisle. That was 1 man. How many more of these men do our councillors want to influx our streets with? As i am 99.9% sure it’s not them who will live next door to them. 

A lot of these ‘asylum seekers’ are undocumented men whom throw away their papers in the channel on the way here. A lot of which are coming here from countries not at war and are passing through safe countries to come to the uk, why? Free handouts. Some of these men come from cultures are taught to hate us and our flag from birth and now we welcome them here with open arms. Wayne Broadhurst was a victim of this, walking his dog peacefully only to be stabbed by one of these men. This man specifically who had came to this country few years prior to this. How long had he been planning an attack of this nature? Strange way to thank the taxpayer who is funding your life here. Moroccan asylum seeker Ahmed Alid stabbed 70 year old man Terence Carney multiple times in Hartlepool. Rhiannon Whyte was working in an asylum hotel until her life was taking away from her by one of the very people she was working to help, she was followed and stabbed in a potentially pre meditated attack. Halil Dal smashed a glass bottle of the wall before attacking someone with it. Now I could go on and list many many stories to prove my case here but this is just one point. A lot of these men have also committed various crimes on their way to the uk on the passing through of safe countries, they are brawling and having knife fights just earlier this year shadow Home Secretary Chris Philip had a knife pulled on him in Calais by someone who may already be in this country now.

As mentioned before the streets of Carlisle are completely different. Local people shutting down their business due to not affording the rent, people opting to not start their dream businesses due to high rent. So tell me how a dozen barber shops can operate with the lights on all day ( obviously costing money for electric) with no one in their chair. I ask any councillor to take a walk down botchergate and observe these businesses. You then have mini markets all congregated together alongside these barbers and halal meat stores, the city is unrecognisable to what it once was and those on their perches don’t see it. Everyone in Carlisle is saying the same.

There are many mothers that struggled to get housing, the mother of my child struggled to find housing during the entirety of her pregnancy only to get one a month before she was due? That is no time at all to make a house a home especially 8 months pregnant, this was never the case 10/20 years ago. So this brings me to my next point. How comes mothers both new and old, some maybe fleeing violent partners, how come they struggle to get the help that they require yet our councillors are sitting to vote on the increase of people that weren’t born here ? Many, many people in this city are struggling for housing, been on waiting lists for several years then potentially having to accept something that they DO NOT want just because they feel if they do not take it, they will not find somewhere to live? Where are all these new additions going to live and is it stupid to say we should be prioritising our own citizens ahead of these? We have people on the streets, in overcrowded houses and whatever else. It is a joke.

Speaking of mothers, many are opting out of walking down the street with their children and taking their kids to the park Hammonds pond for one. The reason being these men congregate there, speak in their native tongue and stare and intimidate our women and not to mention our children, go back 5 years ago this was never the case. These men are congregating all over areas such as this and making people uncomfortable, why should our own people be intimidated with such a normal activity like taking their children to the park at the expense of these migrants? Well I should say our expense as most are here down to our own pocket. Don’t get me started on botchergate either there has been several reports I’ve seen on Facebook and heard from people the past few months and years of these new arrivals following them and harassing them. Where does it end ? It won’t without the people in power listening.

Our public services are dire. You have people who live in Carlisle going up to Lockerbie and Hawick for dental treatment it is absolutely ludicrous what is going on but I know for a fact that these new arrivals will get first hand care, check ups and treatments almost instantaneous to arrival. How is this fair on the people of Carlisle? Why can’t our council help us fix the services in Carlisle instead of adding to the strain? Will council tax go up?

I could go on and on but to summarise this is how me and a LOT of other men and women feel in Carlisle, I know of many people whom have sent emails regarding this matter and how they feel on the subject and I can almost guarantee that the feeling is a lot more negative towards this motion than positive. I, alongside everyone who signs this petition deems this as a safety concern. I would also like to know the benefits of this to us locals, ie infrastructure, schools, dentists and social housing because obviously the current infrastructure isn’t adequate.

Josh