Illegal immigration - thread no. 101

Trouble is we need people to do things like pick fruit, slaughter chickens and be Carers in our old folks homes.

Unless we can crack the problem of getting the indigenous population into those jobs we're stuck.

And it's foreign students, paying customers at our Unis, that keeps Further Education afloat.

It's scary the disconnect between what the majority of this country clearly want.(reduced legal immigration; no illegal immigration) and what politicians will give us. Even Farage is backing down on immigration. Not sure what is going to happen as this crap cannot continue.

Yes that’s right. Just let anyone in 🤪

It's not just small boats

Agree. We can't afford both a comprehensive welfare state including PIP for all that need it as well as welcoming and supporting every young strapping man that makes it across the Channel. Some day some government will have to chose.

The other big problem with safe routes is that they only work where there is a country at war where everyone's at risk of indiscriminate violence - those who need humanitarian protection rather than refugees.

They wouldn't be feasible for anyone who is a refugee on Convention grounds - someone who fears persecution due to race, religion, political opinion or membership of a particular social group (e.g. gay people). If the government is actively searching for you to lock you up due to being a political dissident or a religious preacher, you can't really make an application at a local embassy and sit back and wait for the outcome.

@Bromptotoothe trouble is proposing ending crossings by providing all safe routes then skipping how you’d actually do that with how many you’d provide, is just avoiding a viable solution.

It sounds good but won’t work.

A remarkably mature six year old!!!

I've spent enough time on threads like this that just go round and round like a hamster wheel to limit the time/energy I devote to them.

Yes. See the poster above for example who seems to think that anyone who hangs out at / is employed in a Turkish barber shop is an illegal entrant economic migrant posing as a refugee 😂they're highly likely to be naturalised Brits.

The videos I've seen on SM like those mentioned in the OP are economic migrants - they're young men all laughing and cheering and holding iPhones - they're not fleeing war torn countries.

You know you're watching propaganda videos (or, at a push, marketing), don't you? The smugglers tell them what to say, and those iPhones don't belong to them, they get taken back by the smugglers. There's an Egyptian man being prosecuted for organising people smuggling in the news at the moment - he is said to have made all the people on his boats throw their phones in the sea presumably so that their journeys couldn't be traced back to him. (I'm also impressed that you can tell which ones are and are not from war torn countries - it's not always easy from a short video to tell the difference for example between a Kurdish man from Syria and a Kurdish man from Iraq.)

Oh great for raising awareness. There are about a thousand people I know that want to move here and can't do it legally. I will ask them to check out social media. Any accounts specifically? Do you know if they offer refer a friend discounts or vouchers I can spend in foreign shops like Lidl and IKEA?
Thanks again op for raising awareness

Other countries limit immigration. We are a small island and we cannot handle the sheer numbers of people coming in.

Then there are all the problems associated with bringing low skilled young men into the country from regions rife with misogyny, racism and homophobia.

There needs to be fewer people allowed in and many more rules and safeguards to protect the existing population.

I really want the government to get a grip on this for lost of reasons. Not least because I know lots of people who are visibly “immigrant” (ie: dark skinned, even if the family has been here for a few generations) and I really don’t want a backlash against them.

I am an immigrant and while I don’t look English, I’m lucky that I’m pale enough and wear western dress that I don’t get any hassle.

We're coming at this from different perspectives and debate is of limited value since neither of us is going to change our stance.

I'll agree to differ.

I think many people would agree things are in an almighty mess. But racism is not the way forward.
Look at the infantile language we use..." gangs" " small boats" and so on. And the racist language " illegals"
Ironic someboyd mentions Churchill. His Grandson is a major player in SERCO, an organisation that has made billions on the back of this chaos.

Turkish barbers are extremely unlikely to have entered as refugees - they have a bespoke route under the Ankara Agreement.

In my world you won't get access to a safe route unless you can show (a) a prima facie claim for Asylum and (b) a connection to the UK.

We'd also need to restore the means to return people to the EU.

@Bromptotoohow many people are you talking about from Sudan or any country in similar situations?

it is absurd to use compassion as a sole response to this issue. What about compassion for our own country and how it’s being undermined. We are all jumping into the sea, saving no one at all.

@Rosybud88 no, they're not. The smugglers are very keen for them not to have contact with the authorities for obvious reasons - and even those who do encounter the authorities in Italy or Greece for example can't be given travel documents by those countries, unless they are granted status there.

As with the previous 100 threads,

There is no such thing as an "illegal" or "bogus" person seeking asylum. Under international law, anyone has the right to apply for asylum in any country that has signed the 1951 Convention and to remain there until the authorities have assessed their claim.

https://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/stay-informed/explainers/the-truth-about-asylum/