A mother who is a modern slavery survivor and her young daughter have been staying in a safehouse as they awaited a decision on their asylum claim in the U.K. Now, the U.K. Home Office is forcing them to move to an undisclosed hotel that houses asylum seekers reports Bristol Post. However, anti-immigration riots continue to rage in the U.K., hotels housing asylum seekers have been torched by far-right agitators leaving Felicity (not her real name) fearing for the safety of herself and her child if they are forced to move. 

Building a new home  

For the last four years, Felicity and her daughter have been living in a safehouse waiting for an answer to their asylum claim. Felicity was a victim of trafficking and modern slavery including rape and sexual abuse and she has spent those four years rebuilding their life in the city. Like any mother, Felicity has been working hard to build a sense of safety and stability for herself and her daughter. She recently introduced her daughter to the school that she would start at in September and got her a new school uniform. So far, she has avoided multiple attempts to send them both to a hotel, but now in the current chaos and anti-immigrant rioting they may be uprooted.  

Felicity said: 

“I am honestly terrified at what is going on right now and I don’t feel safe at all to stay in an unknown place with my child.”  

For Felicity and her daughter, the safehouse and the surrounding community has become their home, and she feels depressed and stressed out imagining the kind of things that could happen to them if they are forced to move. The recent waves of unrest, fueled by xenophobia and misinformation have led to protests escalating in multiple days of clashes with police across numerous towns in the U.K. And the rioters have been vocal about their hatred of immigrants.

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