I met a family of four this week at a media event in Possilpark in Glasgow.

Just another honest, decent, ordinary family.

Dad is a university educated, data analyst, Mum is a qualified midwife and their two teenage sons are both doing really well at their local secondary school and full of ideas and ambitions for their future.

The boys were very polite and their mum even made food for people in the community to share.

The sort of family anyone would be happy to have as neighbours, I would imagine.

The only difference between this family and thousands like them across the country is they are asylum seekers.

The Bakhsh family left Pakistan six years ago because they are Christians and other family members have been killed and kidnapped in a campaign of persecution by Islamic extremists.

They are living in poor housing provided by Serco, the private firm appointed by the Home Office to manage accommodation for asylum seekers.

But because Serco is only interested in profit they are at risk of being evicted because their latest asylum bid was rejected by the Home Office.

Mum and Dad are not allowed to work and earn money, so they rely on the generous support of others while their valuable skills go to waste.

They are unable to plan a future because they don’t know what it holds but they are raising their children as good hard -working citizens in the hope that they will be allowed to remain in Scotland.

A common argument is that asylum seekers are merely economic migrants coming to the UK for benefits paid for by others.

If this family and many others like them were able to work they would be contributing, doing work that is valued and needed by employers and society.

They would certainly not be a drain on society.

They would be paying taxes and spending their wages and in a few years so would their sons.

Scotland needs more not fewer people just now. The family are living in Milton and attend church in Possilpark while the boys go to school in Springburn.

All communities where de-population is an issue.

These places desperately need jobs for the people who have lived there for years and for other people with jobs to move there to help stimulate the economy. The Bakhsh family would fit the bill.

But the family is not able to contribute financially and how long they will be part of the community is anyone’s guess.

They contribute in other ways according to their minister Rev Linda Pollock, who said they enrich the community by being there.

But they live in fear that any day they could be made homeless if Serco comes and changes the locks, not due to immigration rules but because they are no longer profitable.

They are afraid they will get picked up and detained by the Home Office before deportation. It keeps the Dad awake at night.

By persisting with the hostile environment policy and leaving these families for years as non-citizens, the county is cutting off its nose to spite its face.

Not every asylum seeker is genuine, not every genuine asylum seeker is like the Bakhsh family.

But if they are thrown out of the country it would be our loss as well as theirs.