Page 13 | So what can in practical terms fully halt illegal immigration?

Wellwhatnowbellaboo · 2026-05-09T09:06:48+00:00

Reform has won by a landslide .... immigration is probably by the look of it the biggest issue. What can realistically without breaking laws be done to really halt this with a big impact ? What would Farage actually do ? Would and should we as a country break some laws to get this done and speak to what people really feel is an issue ? (Many countries do). This is not in labour's dna so I doubt anything will come if it now ... but if you've thought about it or you have solutions what are they ? And if you are opposed- why and what's the answer ?

professionalcommentreader · 09/05/2026 17:08

tulippa · 09/05/2026 11:40

I used to teach English to foreign national prisoners, some of whom were illegal immigrants due to be deported at the end of their sentences. I was told by them more than once that they passed through Germany, The Netherlands, France, Belgium etc as there was no way for them to get work there without having the correct papers. They came to the UK because we don't check/care and they knew they'd get work somewhere in our underground economy.
This may not apply to all illegal immigrants but if we crack down on the barbers, vape shops, car washes and other businesses we get cheap deals from paying cash and turning a blind eye to what goes on behind the scenes with them, we might discourage a proportion risking their lives to arrive here illegally.

This! Include the other emerging trends such as Deliveroo, care homes and illegal Gangmasters and the criminal controls and you’d start to get somewhere but it’s larger than any agency can deal with.

EasternStandard · 09/05/2026 17:07

WilfredsPies · 09/05/2026 16:55

And I yours (I suspect that’s appalling grammar but you’ll get my point).

I don’t know how so many people can be aware of Dublin but completely unaware of how it works or how effective it was for the UK.

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Yep and just because it was on I went to listen to a very well known BBC news journo speak on various things and who repeated the same lines as are on here. No wonder people repeat misinformation. It’s dire.

likelysuspect · 09/05/2026 17:07

Allseeingallknowing · 09/05/2026 17:05

But the accommodation and healthcare are still a problem and financial burden, no matter how much anyone tries to minimise them. What do you suggest we do?

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We fix our accommodation and healthcare systems.

Doable

But no political will for it. And the public dont care either.

TonTonMacoute · 09/05/2026 17:05

Germany and Denmark as well as Australia are all much more successful than the U.K. It is perfectly possible to control illegal entry humanely and within the law and international agreements when the political will is there.

The real anger, IMO, is not so much at the illegal migrants themselves, it is more anger at the attitude of the political establishment who seem to be pretending that it isn't a problem, it isn't costing huge amounts of money that could be spent on other things, and that anyone who complains about the situation is a bigoted racist who must be silenced.

If we cannot deport foreigners who commit crimes, and then end up paying for them to be able to stay here, then people are not going to be happy. They are going to be even more unhappy when they themselves are struggling to meet their own CoL.

Asylum status and ILR should be reviewed regularly and revoked where appropriate. It's far too easy to get citizenship here, if migrants cannot support themselves and their families it should be granted in only the most exceptional of circumstances. These are measures that have been introduced in Denmark and have had positive results.

Allseeingallknowing · 09/05/2026 17:05

LoremIpsumCici · 09/05/2026 17:00

We take in far fewer than our fair share by any quota you can think of.

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But the accommodation and healthcare are still a problem and financial burden, no matter how much anyone tries to minimise them. What do you suggest we do?

Clavinova · 09/05/2026 17:04

EasternStandard · 09/05/2026 16:49

Do you mean the Dublin Agreement. People have misunderstood the extent of this.

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I'm not sure it's so much a misunderstanding, rather politicians such as Ed Davey have been pushing a disingenuous narrative on this topic.

Allseeingallknowing · 09/05/2026 17:02

YourKonstantine · 09/05/2026 16:51

Lots.

No NHS access until you’ve contributed x amount of tax and lived here for x years

no benefits without contributing x amount first

can only take out what you put in

no paying illegal immigrants to leave the country

a decent scoring system like Australia and Canada

if you have no ID you’re deported, tough shit. Come in on a boat, back out again within 24h. Stop housing immigrants etc. if you come here you need a job and a house sorted before you can even arrive.

we reward illegal immigration here. No wonder it’s constant.

So when they’re sick, what happens? We’re already letting people off paying who come on holiday from other countries and have ops and babies here, so can’t really do that. While you’re waiting for them to contribute through working, who is going to accommodate them?
Detention centres while processing, basic medical and dental care, for which the applicant will have an amount deducted when they’re allowed to work if granted asylum. No cousins, aunts uncles allowed to come over and join them.

likelysuspect · 09/05/2026 17:01

YourKonstantine · 09/05/2026 16:51

Lots.

No NHS access until you’ve contributed x amount of tax and lived here for x years

no benefits without contributing x amount first

can only take out what you put in

no paying illegal immigrants to leave the country

a decent scoring system like Australia and Canada

if you have no ID you’re deported, tough shit. Come in on a boat, back out again within 24h. Stop housing immigrants etc. if you come here you need a job and a house sorted before you can even arrive.

we reward illegal immigration here. No wonder it’s constant.

So rising crime and disease in the country then

Do you know how many people arrive with TB and latent TB? (amongst other things)

LoremIpsumCici · 09/05/2026 17:00

Allseeingallknowing · 09/05/2026 16:03

Perhaps each country should have a specified quota in relation to its size etc. When that’s been reached the immigrant has to move on to the next one, hopefully not ending up in the U.K.!

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We take in far fewer than our fair share by any quota you can think of.

likelysuspect · 09/05/2026 16:58

Allseeingallknowing · 09/05/2026 16:50

So what are the French expected to do for all the money we pay them?

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They'll work to the terms of reference and the remit they have.

We oversee their part of border control in terms of people leaving their shores but we pay handsomely for it. And its not foolproof, you can see that by the numbers arriving.

LoremIpsumCici · 09/05/2026 16:58

Purplebunnie · 09/05/2026 15:46

As far as I am aware we've never invaded Albania.

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We did it covertly by funding and arming proxies because we didn’t want it to go communist.

InveterateWineDrinker · 09/05/2026 16:57

LoremIpsumCici · 09/05/2026 16:15

Ha ha ha ha all immigrants already have biometric ID cards. They were introduced in 2015.

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Legal immigrants might already have them, but UK citizens do not which means that someone not having one isn't necessarily illegal. If everyone in the UK legally had one, it would be easy to spot the illegal ones!

likelysuspect · 09/05/2026 16:56

Not alone no although that doesnt help, you can look it up, Im in the sun and cant be arsed but our collaboration with France in particular, our partners has changed which is why we are paying a huge amount more, I mean a huge amount, to have slightly less collaboration than we did before

We've worked with families sent back to France recently but these are specific deals which have to be arrnaged one by one, not like we had before

There are databases we no longer have access to any more, as an automatic although we obivously have cross border international support.

We lost out, that is the reality.

WilfredsPies · 09/05/2026 16:55

EasternStandard · 09/05/2026 16:48

@WilfredsPiesalways appreciate your posts on this even though so few say ok they get it now.

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And I yours (I suspect that’s appalling grammar but you’ll get my point).

I don’t know how so many people can be aware of Dublin but completely unaware of how it works or how effective it was for the UK.

niassfattie · 09/05/2026 16:52

MissAmbrosia · 09/05/2026 10:32

Asylum seekers are not illegal. Illegal immigrants are the ones overstaying visas etc. I would introduce ID, checks on where people live and do spot checks on businesses to ensure they are not employing people with no right to be in the country.

We know those ones coming from France aren't asylum seekers

LoremIpsumCici · 09/05/2026 16:51

NeverGetADayOff · 09/05/2026 14:50

The migrants cross through quite a few countries before they get here. They don’t walk, they take trains I assume. If you’ve passed through 6 countries to get here, then maybe a much stronger approach needs to be taken every step of the way. It’s not just a Uk problem, it’s a Europe wide issue.

Why isn’t there interception along the way in each country? This could be financed by a collective Europe, where they are then held and processed at a central point, and each EU country including the UK has their proportional share of genuine refugees and the others deported back or to a 3rd county out of the central pot.

We could have 1 European force that patrols the med, popular landing points and points of entry who “meet” those fleeing persecution and bring them to safety.

I’m sure those fleeing harm would be glad of being met and wouldn’t care which European country they’d be housed in, and those looking for an easy gig would be put off at wanting to get the UK, but it’s a lottery and they may be swapping their lack of prospects at home for worse ones.

Edited

Before we left the EU, that was being set up. But we opted out.

YourKonstantine · 09/05/2026 16:51

Lots.

No NHS access until you’ve contributed x amount of tax and lived here for x years

no benefits without contributing x amount first

can only take out what you put in

no paying illegal immigrants to leave the country

a decent scoring system like Australia and Canada

if you have no ID you’re deported, tough shit. Come in on a boat, back out again within 24h. Stop housing immigrants etc. if you come here you need a job and a house sorted before you can even arrive.

we reward illegal immigration here. No wonder it’s constant.

Allseeingallknowing · 09/05/2026 16:50

likelysuspect · 09/05/2026 16:27

Ok, I got confused because you seemed to think that if a new scheme started where each country has to take a proportion based on size, the UK would have fewer asylum seekers, whereas we would have more. So you knew already it would lead to more?

You also said that they should be claiming asylum in the first safe country and when I pointed out they dont have to and this is legal you seemed suprrised and said this needed to change?

You've also made a comment about 'The French dont want to do that' in terms of preventing asylum seekers from getting on boats to come here but didnt seem to understand that our collaboration and funding to France changed after Brexit which means of course the joint work that we relied on, has changed slightly to our disadvantage

The French do try to stop people getting on boats because they dont have permission to make a channel crossing, the busiest channel in the world (dont quote me on that) and so they stop it from that perspective. Or try to.

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So what are the French expected to do for all the money we pay them?

LoremIpsumCici · 09/05/2026 16:50

SomedayIllBeSaturdayNight · 09/05/2026 13:19

No but it would.make it much harder to work here illegally, and so reduce the pull factor.

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Would if it were 2014. Had the biometric ID cards since 2015. Do you think it’s done much?

likelysuspect · 09/05/2026 16:50

WilfredsPies · 09/05/2026 16:46

Objectively, the only solution is to go back into the EU and fully utilise the provision that allows return to the 1st safe (EU) country No it isn’t. I think people genuinely believe that people would arrive here and we could just say ‘Nope, back you go’. There is a fundamental misunderstanding of how the Dublin Convention worked and the criteria that had to be met.

The reason for the small boats is Brexit. Traffickers know that people can't be easily sent back because we are outside the EU Again, no it isn’t. The numbers of small boats begin rising several years before we left the EU and Dublin. The numbers began increasing at the same time as increased security checks on freight in the ports and traffickers realising it was easier, safer for them and more lucrative to put 70 people on a cheap boat on a deserted beach than it was to get five or ten people at a time through the security measures and lorry drivers and into the back of a lorry. We weren’t sending asylum seekers back in any great numbers before we left the EU.

I’m also unsure why people think having ID cards would change anything. There are already laws and substantial penalties for any employer found to be hiring someone who doesn’t have permission to work. The people who hire in the black economy and pay cash in hand to people, are well aware that those people don’t have permission to work. They just don’t care and are working on the basis that they won’t get caught. ID cards won’t change that.

Absolutey correct.

EasternStandard · 09/05/2026 16:49

likelysuspect · 09/05/2026 16:39

It costs us a lot more, a lot more and we cant rely on reciprocal returns in the way we used to. Theres more detail than that, but thats the upshot.

I didnt say we would take more than other EU countries, I said we would take more than we do now. I talked about the UK in general, I didnt separate it out into our countries.

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Do you mean the Dublin Agreement. People have misunderstood the extent of this.

EasternStandard · 09/05/2026 16:48

WilfredsPies · 09/05/2026 16:46

Objectively, the only solution is to go back into the EU and fully utilise the provision that allows return to the 1st safe (EU) country No it isn’t. I think people genuinely believe that people would arrive here and we could just say ‘Nope, back you go’. There is a fundamental misunderstanding of how the Dublin Convention worked and the criteria that had to be met.

The reason for the small boats is Brexit. Traffickers know that people can't be easily sent back because we are outside the EU Again, no it isn’t. The numbers of small boats begin rising several years before we left the EU and Dublin. The numbers began increasing at the same time as increased security checks on freight in the ports and traffickers realising it was easier, safer for them and more lucrative to put 70 people on a cheap boat on a deserted beach than it was to get five or ten people at a time through the security measures and lorry drivers and into the back of a lorry. We weren’t sending asylum seekers back in any great numbers before we left the EU.

I’m also unsure why people think having ID cards would change anything. There are already laws and substantial penalties for any employer found to be hiring someone who doesn’t have permission to work. The people who hire in the black economy and pay cash in hand to people, are well aware that those people don’t have permission to work. They just don’t care and are working on the basis that they won’t get caught. ID cards won’t change that.

@WilfredsPiesalways appreciate your posts on this even though so few say ok they get it now.

ilovesleep6 · 09/05/2026 16:48

Jamesblonde2 · 09/05/2026 16:41

But they are housed and fed and receive medical treatment, given taxi transport, free legal aid to fight their claim. They are better off than some British citizens who have to pay for EVERY one of those things.

What is that then, £1500 per month or more?

Yes it might not pass their hands, but it’s a free bloody holiday isn’t it?

Then the illegal working at the dodgy shop.

Don’t be so bloody naive.

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This. People who say they don’t get benefits are disingenuous. They don’t even have to worry about putting the heating on as that’s paid for too. Every basic need is paid for while many working people have had to choose between heating and eating.

WilfredsPies · 09/05/2026 16:46

Objectively, the only solution is to go back into the EU and fully utilise the provision that allows return to the 1st safe (EU) country No it isn’t. I think people genuinely believe that people would arrive here and we could just say ‘Nope, back you go’. There is a fundamental misunderstanding of how the Dublin Convention worked and the criteria that had to be met.

The reason for the small boats is Brexit. Traffickers know that people can't be easily sent back because we are outside the EU Again, no it isn’t. The numbers of small boats begin rising several years before we left the EU and Dublin. The numbers began increasing at the same time as increased security checks on freight in the ports and traffickers realising it was easier, safer for them and more lucrative to put 70 people on a cheap boat on a deserted beach than it was to get five or ten people at a time through the security measures and lorry drivers and into the back of a lorry. We weren’t sending asylum seekers back in any great numbers before we left the EU.

I’m also unsure why people think having ID cards would change anything. There are already laws and substantial penalties for any employer found to be hiring someone who doesn’t have permission to work. The people who hire in the black economy and pay cash in hand to people, are well aware that those people don’t have permission to work. They just don’t care and are working on the basis that they won’t get caught. ID cards won’t change that.

EstrellaPolar · 09/05/2026 16:45

One area that is increased by expats is animal charities and charities for Cancer and other conditions.

Oh yes, those groundbreaking cancer charities in Spain. How would we exist without them.

We have national institutions dedicated to cancer research and an investment of over €1 billion in the last 7 years towards the disease. Spanish hospitals are at the top of the leaderboard in Europe when it comes to research and cancer treatments. I’m not making this up, it’s off Google.

The health service here works, so the need for charities is much, much smaller than in countries such as the UK. Our taxes are higher, and healthcare is well funded.

It feels incredibly patronising to hear “yes, we’ve priced locals out of their hometowns but it’s okay, we’ve set up an animal rescue and cancer charity near Benidorm so our impact on Spain was a good one”.

Disclaimer - my closest friends are migrants too. I have nothing against people who move here from other countries per se. It’s incredibly annoying when they try to convince you they did me a favour by doing so. Say it how it is. Land and houses are cheaper, the sun is brighter, and people didn’t mind buying in to that.