What about Switzerland, 6th. For God's sake, the whole population of the country is considerably smaller than London. No wonder we're all getting a bit exercised about it.
You can understand France's point of view if they did not want to come to England they would not be camping at Calais. If I was french, and lived at Calais I would be pretty fed up with it all. Maybe we should make a flyer, stating all the reason why they should not come to UK, give them nothing, if we find you we will send you to the cold front etc. maybe they would disappear to go somewhere else.
As they like to jump into the back of trucks so much i would get aload of trucks and have the back doors as one way turn stiles, pull up at the ports let a load jump in the back then drive back across europe none stop possibly into poland or russia and drop them off there.
Or lease a ferry and invite them all in board with the promise of a free crossing. Then sail them to Antarctica or Australia.
I'd be very interested to know where and when? Outbound yes, but inbound should be 100% checks. But the figures are skewed, in Europe those that are detained by the authorities feature on your chart, hence higher figures in certain countries. In the UK, the only people who claim asylum are those that generally enter illegally and then either present themselves, or are caught. As for the Daily Wail, I'd rather stick pins in my eyes than read their stories. I have dealt with some of the things they have reported, and what appears in print very often bears no relation to the event. But I'm sure it reads well to 'Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells'
I did see a really good documentary of French TV which followed some illegal migrants on their journey from Pakistan to Paris. It made the hairs on your neck stand up. 1'000s of miles on foot through mountain ranges, dealing with dodgy people, thousands of dollars being handed over. Stranded in places, being used as quasi slaves, beaten and tortured in Yemen, robbed. Some were killed. They ended up in Turkey, after a hideous Med crossing then finally made it to a Greek beach, then put in a camp. They escaped from the camp, got on a train and made it into France. You couldn't help feeling desperately sorry for them. They really do believe the streets are paved with gold in northern Europe. They ended up sleeping rough with no real chance of a job, but they daren't go back after all the money that has been spent on them by their families and all they have been through. It took them months to get to Europe. Of course, that doesn't mean they shouldn't be sent back, but it's good to understand that they are desperate people, not necessarily evil.
But the problem comes when you need to work out which is which. Are they being persecuted, or are they attempting to enter for other purposes.
I think for the effort they go to, the risks to life and health, the pain and suffering they endure it's not to get the £57.35 a week job seekers allowance.
But this is the mistake it's easy to make. Certainly JSA on its own is not generous. BUT, when you look at the overall package, especially for women with children, the Birtish welfare state is a pretty compelling offer, because you may be able to add on: Housing benefit/Social Housing Child Benefit Free Education to age of 18 Free NHS healthcare etc Now I'm not saying that the average illegal immigrant, or genuine asylum seeker, will find it easy to get all of that, but they'll get some of it, as well a being able to live in an environment where there is some semblance of law and order. Compared to somewhere like Libya, it's paradise, and a key point (espeicially when looking at legal EU immigration) is that none of it is time-limited or contribution based. Of course France offers some of this too, but I suspect not as easily, and certainly the language and poor employment prospects are a disincentive to stay there.
A swift google search suggests fees in excess of £15000 per person to the people traffickers so not so much of a fortune.
You can imagine your extended family somehow raising £15 grand - pretty much all their savings - and giving you a huge party send off. Your mission - to repay the £15 grand from your future huge European earnings and send back far more than this. You are the great hope for your extended family. You are unlikely, in these circumstances, to head back home the moment you see that Europe isn't all it's cracked up to be. You wouldn't dare. And how are you going to pay the family back grubbing around in Pakistan or Afghanistan? Nonetheless, it is important to send these people back if you don't want more and more of them to come. Word would get around the extended families that it's just not worth spending £15 grand on people traffickers because it's unlikely to pay back.
I'm afraid £15k is absolute rubbish. The people I've spoken too typically spend £4-5k. Still a lot for them to raise though.
Ironically far from lazy people being vilified for coming to a country to sit back and take benefits. How can they be lazy having often trekked (as Glidd describes) many miles and taken huge risks. Having also abandoned their family, in the vain hope they can get somewhere, establish themselves then bring the family in The ones who come as benefit tourists imo are mostly European. Ex Eastern, and actually second generation not just landed on these shores led who bring in relatives from overseas But the main issue is integration. Previously there was little choice, new migrants had to be part of wider society. Now they don't, they can slot into their own community. Just like Brits do in Spain
Or they could be fleeing the law? Murderers, paedophiles, rapists. They have no identity, so who knows? thats the scary bit. In our local paper yesterday we were told the town currently houses 593 asylum seekers. That, to me, means the ones they actually know about, ie the ones who have been caught.
