[Osem]

To what extent there is terrorist infiltration within the ranks of the migrants is never going to be known and that is a big problem. Given how much effort we make to screen people coming in via the traditional routes, I find it bizarre that so many unknown people can just be allowed in on the simple untested basis that they're refugees. That, however, has been the case for years so it's nothing new but it does demonstrate the shambolic nature of the EU's approach to security.

What's equally worrying and just as obvious is the way in which some of the migrants choose to behave when they don't get their way. Make no mistake I have great sympathy for the plight of the genuine but amongst them there are all sorts of people ranging from economic migrants to people with extremely dubious histories who we could well do without. We have to do what we can to separate these from the genuine refugees who need our help, albeit IMHO, help closer to home because we can't take them all in and must be diligent in removing those who have no right to entry. The EU has been a soft touch and more recently the bizarre actions of Germany in particular are responsible for drawing economic migrants into the EU and only now do they appear to be regretting what they've done.

I think any policy which allows large numbers of primarily young men into the EU from many countries around the globe is very dangerous. We have experience in London of young men from various nations who've been allowed to come here and then been left to get on with it with little support or hope. Consequently a good number have failed to find jobs and found themselves involved in crime and gangs, often in conflict with rival migrant groups ironically. Do we really need more crime and gangs when the activities of our indigenous population already stretches the legal and law enforcement services in particular? Do we really need more social unrest added to that we already suffer?

What's being seen in Hungary and in Calais is what happens when large numbers of young men are allowed to do what they want in order to get what they want. Try to turn them back and they eventually use even more force and/or take even more extreme measures to get what they want. It's clear they're not interested in compromise, they want to go to Germany or they want to come to the UK because they believe that's what's best for them. No amount of reasoning from EU cloud cuckoo land HQ about spreading the burden will change that and persuade such people to go quietly to/settle in places they don't want to be.

We are now seeing the consequences of raising false hopes and once people have become desperate, for whatever reason, trying to control what they do and where they go becomes a massive problem. IMHO we need to shut the gates and send that message out loud and clear. We need to focus our efforts and aid much closer to the problem areas and convince those on the move that our help will be provided in that way and nothing will be gained by traipsing across Europe trying to get in. Part of the message needs to be robust enforcement and the removal of those found to be illegal. We need to do much more to prove to would be economic migrants that they will not be allowed to bully their way into Europe and then be able to exploit the system to remain.

None of this is going to be easy and it will require some unpleasant choices to be made but that's the stark reality IMHO because if we continue on this chaotic path all that's going to happen is the problem will grow ever more serious. Whilst we're preoccupied with trying to keep out/remove vast numbers of economic migrants and other illegals, we're not going to be so able to help the genuine refugees to stay safe whilst they await the time when they can go back home and let's make no mistake, that should be the ultimate aim. We cannot accept all the world's needy and vulnerable and the only real question is at what point do we have to say enough is enough? If we fail to grasp the nettle all that will happen is our own way of life will increasingly suffer and we'll gradually see growing social unrest as an inevitable consequence.