Quote:
Originally Posted by Hugh
What do you actually mean by 'tighten up our border and immigration controls'?
We are not in the Schengen Agreement, and check the passport of everyone who enters this country - if we have intelligence, we will not let suspected terrorists in/arrest them; if we don't have any intelligence on them, how do we know they are a threat?
What would you actually have the Border Agency do, in addition to what they do now?
|
The could start by stopping people coming into the UK in the backs of lorries or do they have passports too?
I imagine you, like nearly all of us, don't readily let strangers into our homes. We behave in this way not because they're all crooks, we all know that statistically the reverse is massively true. We do it because we have no idea who they are and we're aware that they may pose a risk. Why would we treat illegal migrants any differently? Why would them being 'unknown' be a reason for not having any concerns about their motives and intentions? To my mind, we ought to be far more careful about those who come here illegally for the very reason that they are unknown and have already broken the law by doing so.
That still, of course, leaves those who can obtain convincing forged documents or come here using bona fide documents but with ulterior motives but surely that fact isn't a reason for not closing off other routes for them to get in.
Clearly whatever border controls are in place in the UK aren't sufficient. Now of course that has nothing directly to do with Schengen and is an issue for HMG to tackle but I reckon there'd be far fewer migrants in Calais if there'd been checks at every border crossing between Calais and their points of entry into the EU. The unwillingness of the EU to accept what's patently obvious and change a flawed policy causing serious problems is great cause for concern IMHO and adds to the reasons we should get out.