Dame Joanna Lumley Calls for “New Approach” to Immigration Debate: “We Must Fix the Roots, Not Build Fences”

Veteran actor, activist, and humanitarian Dame Joanna Lumley has called for a “new and compassionate approach” to the immigration debate, urging world leaders to look beyond border controls and focus instead on the root causes of migration — including conflict, food insecurity, and failing infrastructure in developing nations.

Speaking in an interview that has since sparked wide discussion across the UK and beyond, the 79-year-old star — best known for her roles in Absolutely Fabulous and for decades of humanitarian campaigning — said that current conversations around migration have become “too narrow and reactive,” focusing on deterrence rather than solutions.

“We’ve stopped looking at what the problems are when there are these great shifts of people,” Dame Joanna said. “Most people would much rather remain in their own homeland. We all have a great protection feeling for our own homeland.”

“The World Isn’t Thinking — It’s Just Saying Stop That, Stop That”

Dame Joanna, who has long championed global humanitarian issues including environmental protection, veterans’ welfare, and women’s rights, said the world needs to think differently about the factors pushing millions to flee their homes each year.

“A lack of food, infrastructure and warfare is the driver for a lot of world migration,” she said. “Countries like the UK cannot support unlimited migration. Instead, we should be focusing on helping people to thrive where they already live.”

She emphasized that most displaced people do not want to leave their countries, but are forced to do so because of instability and lack of opportunity.

“Rather than everybody coming to where those things do exist — which is largely Europe and places like this — how are we, as a world, going to spread this back again so you can stay in your fabulous country?”

Her suggestion, she said, is not about isolationism but empowerment: creating the conditions that allow people to live securely and sustainably in their homeland.

“You can grow crops, you can have factories, schools, hospitals — everything can work there. But it must be made safe, stable, and functioning. You don’t get to that stage by putting up fences. You do something else.”

A Call for Global Cooperation

Lumley’s comments come at a time of renewed debate over migration in Britain and across Europe, as governments grapple with record numbers of people crossing borders due to war, poverty, and climate change.

She said the international community needs to move beyond “reactive politics” and instead focus on long-term cooperation, helping developing nations build sustainable economies and infrastructure.

“I’m not sure exactly how it is done,” she admitted, “but the world is not thinking. It’s always thinking, ‘keep them out, stop that, stop that, stop that.’”

Quoting a passage she said she saw in a Paris bookshop, Lumley reflected on the importance of compassion and moral responsibility in the debate.

“There’s a lovely sentence which comes from the Bible,” she recalled. “‘And the Lord said, be not inhospitable to strangers, lest they be angels in disguise.’”

“A Voice of Empathy Amid Division”

Her remarks have been widely praised for striking a balance between empathy and realism. While she acknowledged that the UK and other wealthy nations cannot accommodate unlimited migration, she stressed that compassion should remain at the heart of policymaking.

“She’s saying what many politicians won’t,” said Professor Emily Carson, a migration policy expert at the University of Sussex. “That it’s not enough to debate how to stop migration — we need to ask why people are being forced to move in the first place. Joanna Lumley is reminding us of the moral and human side of this issue.”

Humanitarian groups echoed her sentiments, noting that more than 114 million people around the world are currently displaced due to war, persecution, or natural disaster — the highest figure on record.

A Lifetime of Advocacy

This isn’t the first time Dame Joanna Lumley has spoken out about international humanitarian crises. Beyond her storied acting career, she’s spent decades campaigning for causes including animal rights, climate action, and veterans’ welfare — most notably leading a successful campaign for Gurkha soldiers to gain UK settlement rights in 2009.

Her characteristic mix of warmth and moral conviction has made her a respected voice in public life. Commentators say that, even as she approaches 80, she continues to use her platform for thoughtful engagement with the world’s most pressing issues.

A Broader Conversation

Lumley’s remarks arrive amid intensifying political debate over migration policy in the UK, with the government under pressure to both reduce asylum backlogs and manage small-boat crossings in the English Channel.

Her perspective adds a humanitarian dimension to a conversation often dominated by numbers and enforcement measures.

“It’s not about blame,” she said. “It’s about responsibility — shared, global responsibility. We’re one planet. If some parts are suffering, it affects us all.”

As public discourse around immigration continues to divide opinion, Dame Joanna Lumley’s words — calm, reflective, and rooted in compassion — may serve as a reminder of something easily forgotten amid the noise: that behind every migration statistic is a human story, and that solutions begin not with fear, but with understanding.