Grief is not enough ( link below)

A few years back I went to an international conference on 'environmental refugees'. It is still a fact that countries in the Sourthern hemisphere take up many more refugees proportionately than does the U.K. or European Countries.

Yes, I think it is appropriate that people 'grieve' about people trafficking. It is a crime. People do it for all kinds of reasons. Greed. Poverty.
Because they have been told there is a better life at the other end of it.

'Strengthening borders' doesn't solve the problem.

The people you speak of are " ex pats" for some reason, not economic migrants.

Many of us have family and friends that work abroad.
They do so for a variety of reasons but, IMO, it’s usually financial. I suppose you could call them economic migrants. The difference between them and those poor people is that they do it legally

They go for a limited time, make a lot of tax free dosh then come back here. Usually whilst they are there they receive no benefits from the host country. No free education no free medical care. If they break the rules of the country they can be taken straight to the airport and sent home. That is the best result in some countries, you really wouldn’t want to be arrested and put in jail.

That’s what these people were doing but we have no process for allowing them to do so legally. They were trying to do the best for their families. Risking their lives for what could have been a really unpleasant life over here.
Unpleasant because they would have no legal status, working long hours with little pay and living in horrible accommodation.

I don’t know what the answer is but managed immigration could be better than this.

Thank you, Grandad1943, you wrote what I was going to write.

The borders we put up are not real, you know. Mankind has always migrated around the globe. Pretending it isn't OK for peoples to move won't stop it. Our borders aren't real. You might as well have told Adam and Eve NOT to leave the garden. Or the Spanish not to go to the Americas. Or the Romans not to go to England. And on and on.

many are not genuine

How do you know?

Many who are genuine are sent back to torture and death.

Illegal immigration between countries will never be ended as long as there is large scale inequality within living standards between nations. The foregoing is the reason why the European Union distributes its budget in the way it does. The most economically developed member states contribute the most into that budget part of which is then distributed to the economically poorest member states to develop their economies.

That practise has proven that given time it can have huge benefits for less developed nations and can stop migration from those counties.

Evidence to the above can be witnessed in Poland from which many thousands arrived on Britains shores from the late 1980s until recent years. Now however, many are returning to their home country as economic progress has made employment there plentiful in many industries and wages on a par with Britain and other economically developed EU member states.

Of course, Britain has always possessed those that begrudge a percentage of the United Kingdoms budget payments to the European Union being given to less economically developed member states. However, those same persons are in my experience those that shout the loudest in regards to immigration but never equate the two above situations.

Where there is poverty you will always get emigration both legal and illegal. Eliminate poverty and in that emigration will stop.

That is the only solution for ending further tragedies such as that which has happened at Purfleet.

The article is well worth a read.

Agree lemongrove

lemongrove
Ah...but there are those on here who argue that due to not being here 'legally', those who arrive by illicit routes are not claiming benefits ergo not a drain on society, which kind of cancels out their not paying tax.

This has happened before and no doubt will not be the last tragedy. Is it not possible for widespread tv adverts in Vietnam and elsewhere saying that illegal entry if successful will end up as a job in the sex or cannabis industry. Ina nail bar might be better but still enslavedby debt?
I think there is one nail bar in my small town and I'm told the police visit frequently.

This is grief

"Grief is a multifaceted response to loss, particularly to the loss of someone or something that has died, to which a bond or affection was formed."

we are sorry and sad but it is not grief.

Strong borders= safe people

Where is our foreign budget going? Maybe a proportion should be used to educate abroad about the realities of people smuggling

I agree that grief is not enough......we need to step up security
(All countries meant by ‘us’) so that people do not die at sea or in the backs of lorries.
Asylum seekers will always be assessed as many are not genuine.We don’t know the status of the Vietnamese people in this case, but as relatives here were waiting to collect them in some cases, they were entering the UK illegally and therefore not putting themselves forwards for asylum.
Asylum seekers or economic migrants must arrive here legally and although I understand the reasons that many go down the illegal route, no country, not just the UK can allow this by turning a blind eye.They can’t legally work here, so contribute nothing to the host country.