In this episode, host Jessie Sullivan (University College London) speaks with Olivia Petie (University of Birmingham) and Megan Crossley (Lancaster University) about care "from above" to ask who the state sees as deserving of care and how those framings shape everyday life for migrants in the UK.

We look at the stark contrast between bespoke routes created for some groups and the hostile, securitised response to people seeking asylum via small boats - discuss how the language of care can be mobilised to legitimise border violence and obscure the structural conditions driving dangerous crossings in the first place. We share examples from our own research, unpacking the myth of asylum hotels as ‘luxury’ spaces and discuss the far right hostility and violence facing asylum hotel residents. We also consider how asylum support policies frame control as care while leaving people destitute, disconnected and constantly on the move.

Mentioned resources:

• Crossley, M. (2026). Careless Bordering: Photovoice accounts from refugees and people seeking asylum in Northwest England. [Doctoral Thesis, Lancaster University]. Lancaster University. https://doi.org/10.17635/lancaster/thesis/3238 (Please note: This thesis is currently unavailable online however contact m.crossley@lancaster.ac.uk to receive a copy)
• Crossley, M. (forthcoming). Careless Bordering: Care as a technology of control in UK asylum governance
• Petie, O., Phillimore, J. and Allsopp, A. (2025) ‘Exploring hospitality, hostility and (un)home in hotel accommodation for asylum seekers in the United Kingdom’, Hospitality & Society 15(1): 23-44.
• Phillimore, J., Petie, O. (2024) ‘What life is like for the asylum seekers in hotels being attacked by far right groups’, The Conversation, https://theconversation.com/what-life-is-like-for-the-asylum-seekers-in-hotels-being-attacked-by-far-right-groups-236020
• Sheikh, Rahil and Kateryna Pavlyuk, (6 February 2026) ‘Number of homeless refugees in England soars, BBC finds.’ BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy9y3n43192o

Further suggested resources:

• Sirriyeh, A. (2018) Politics of Compassion: Immigration and Asylum Policy. Bristol University Press.
• Darling, J. (2022) Systems of Suffering: Dispersal and the Denial of Asylum. Pluto Press
• Darling, J. and Burridge, A. (2025) Hotels, refuge, and the rise of carceral hospitality, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 50 (4).

Active listening questions:

• The hosts mention that care can be "wrapped in the language of support" in ways that make resistance harder. Can you think of other contexts (beyond migration) where the language of care might be used to soften or justify control?
• If you were designing a UK asylum accommodation and support system from scratch, guided by the critical understandings of care discussed in this episode, what might you do differently?
• This episode critiques the framing of asylum seekers as either "illegal migrants" living in luxury or vulnerable victims needing rescue. What do both of these framings leave out?