Memes

I think another issue is that there's not exactly a lot of habitable land that isn't already habitated. Like, where would you have them placed, Antarctica?

To the above persons point, you're either giving up some of your own prime real-estate, or you're offering some spot in some colony you own. The latter was chosen.

Now, there's a whole separate debate about the evils of colonization in Africa and the Middle East, but that's more to the point of Britain being the bad guy, not the refugees who were looking for any port in a storm and decided to take the land that was offered.