Magical refugees from GB seeking sanctuary
Reading again about Igor Karkaroff being found hiding in a shack 'up north' and I wondered if any of the magic folk from Great Britain sought asylum in other countries?
I can't seem to recall any mention of this in the books, but if so, would the international magical communities take them in?
I think of Slughorn going from house to house hiding from the death eaters for over a year-wouldn't it have been simpler and safer to just leave the country?
Or would Voldie and company be able to track them despite their best efforts? I know they probably could if they tried to leave by magical means, as in broomsticks or port keys (or even if they did something like charm some muggles to believe the fleeing wizard is their eccentric cousin and bewitch things like passports and just leave on holiday with them) but what about conventional muggle means? I know it would take some planning and subterfuge and it would be hard for those who don't interact with the muggle world to know things like, for example, how to buy a plane ticket or whatever (but even then surely they would have some Muggle-born or half-blood friend who could help them out).
And what would prevent the muggle-borns from just...leaving and melting into muggle society elsewhere?
Posted Oct 5, 2017, 2:51 PM UTC
Well are you talking strictly about fleeing the country, or about applying for refugee resettlement? I work in refugee resettlement and before we get any arrivals, they need to provide a case through the UNHCR, undergo multiple levels of vetting and cultural orientation, apply for documentation etc. Otherwise, refugees are usually stranded in camps or in other temporary housing.
Considering that 1% of refugees are actually resettled, and that a very small amount of the population is magical, the odds are slim to none that a muggle born would be selected.
It would also be very difficult to make a case in the first place. I believe it is cannon that there are witches and wizards employed in post offices and governments, etc. But in refugee resettlement, there are very strict and detailed records that are taken about every single case. We record numbers on how many people are coming from what country and why. Everyone in our offices has access to case files, and essentially all of the muggles working there would find out about the muggleborn wizards fleeing Voldemort. The only way to go around this would be for wizards to have their own resettlement offices and refugee process. If this were real, I would immediately quit my job and work in wizard resettlement.
I'm thinking more in terms of simply running away, not looking to start a new life in South America or whatever.
We saw during WWII how people helped smuggle Jews out of occupied countries by whatever means necessary. We also have the example of the Underground Railroad where Quakers and other abolitionists helped slaves escape by hidden routes. Couldn't the muggle family members of witches and wizards help out with this? Fake documents, set up safe houses and so forth? Of course, as you implied, they would have to know somebody who knew somebody on the inside.
That, and they likely would not be able to work or study in the new country they are living in.
Edit: Considering that the U.K. was a member of the EU during the time of the story, it might have been much easier to escape to France or Germany, for example.