"Paris attacks could affect asylum claims of region's legitimate refugee families" fears local lawyer

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A Midlands-based lawyer who represents dozens of refugees is calling for the Home Office to issue an assurance that legitimate asylum claims by the region’s refugee families will still be scrutinised on a fair basis, following the news that one of the Paris attackers posed as a refugee to gain entry to Europe. 

Raj Brightman, of national law firm Scott-Moncrieff, is appealing to the Home Office and the general public to treat refugees’ asylum applications in the same fair way as they would have prior to the Paris attacks.

"I fear that the Paris attacks could directly affect the ability of this region's legitimate refugee families to obtain asylum," says Brightman. "Many families fear they will be lumped together as a potential threat when – in reality – they are legitimate refugees who have fled torture and possible murder in their home countries. The irony is that they are often fleeing the very group that carried out the Paris attacks.

"Refugees were already misunderstood by large portions of the public and faced an uphill struggle to prove their refugee status. Now they are under even greater suspicion.

"The facts behind many of my clients' cases are harrowing, so I am appealing to the Home Office, the Secretary of State and to this region's immigration and asylum appeal tribunal to continue to give assurances that the clients I represent will not suffer from discrimination in the wake of the attacks. Our Judicial legal system is a fair one but they now more than ever they need to feel that their cases will be heard fully and fairly.

"This region should be proud of its track record in welcoming legitimate refugees. Following the devastating attacks in Paris, now is the time for us to re-assert our commitment to helping the refugees who need and deserve our help by welcoming them into our region."

27 November 2015

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