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YOUR VIEWS:

Well, asylum seekers aren't the first or the only group to be demonised and blamed for all that's wrong in our society. In my lifetime there's been: Caribbean immigrants, strikers, single parents, Irish people, homosexuals, migrant workers, unemployed people and Muslims.

Blaming people seeking asylum for "taking jobs" doesn't wash – the vast majority of asylum seekers are not allowed to work by law; blaming them for "not integrating" is a bit rich – look at the recent cuts in the provisions for teaching English; they have no special priority for social housing either – so look elsewhere for the reasons for the lack of social housing.

Two of the most popular origins for those seeking asylum in the UK are Iraq and Afghanistan. Could this have anything to do with the invasions of those countries by the UK and US? Does the "bottomless pit" of tax-payers' resources (Gordon Brown's words) committed to these ventures have anything to do with the lack of social housing in the UK? But no, it's the victims of these expensive and brutal adventures who get the blame for the lack of social housing under New Labour (like the Tories before)

The statement from the churches is welcome and they are right to point out the number of people who are destitute in Yorkshire. It appears that the creation of destitution: that means no right to work or benefits and no housing – nothing! – is a deliberate government policy. Numbers are difficult to find but it's estimated that there are 1000+ destitute asylum seekers just in Sheffield.

If anything, the church statement is too favourable on the UK's history regarding the reception given to those fleeing persecution ("In the past, Britain had a proud tradition of welcoming the stranger, especially those who had a well-founded fear of persecution".) Tell that to the boatloads of Jews trying to escape Nazi Germany who were turned back by the then UK government. The UK's first ever immigration control, the Aliens Act of 1905, was designed to keep out the Jews of Russia and Eastern Europe who were fleeing widespread anti-semitic persecution and massacres. My grandfather (then a young boy) was one of those people trying to escape these horrors in Rumania at the turn of the 20th century, just a couple of years before the Aliens Act would have probably barred his entry to this country. Maybe I'm only here today and writing this because he made it here before 1905.

The experiences of asylum seekers touch us all. Until we welcome the persecuted and fight the persecutors, none of us are free.

Stuart Crosthwaite, Sheffield