I can't help thinking that if the UK had a decent (enforceable and enforced) immigration policy (cf Australia, Singapore, China, UAE, Kenya, Uganda, Chile, Oman and many many others I haven't been to but who I understand are similarly focused) we wouldn't keep getting into this sort of trouble.
1. If you don't have the right papers when you turn up at the airport/port of entry they send you straight back where you came from and leave it up to the airline/ferry company and the individual to sort out who pays the fare.
2. If you don't have a work permit and someone employs you (even on a casual basis) they get well hammered if they get found out with a fine greatly outweighing any benefit they might have had from employing "cheap labour".
3. You can't claim social benefits and there is no endless welcome mat stretched out for you.
4. If you commit and offence you are jailed pending the court case and if convicted are immediately deported to your home country (or the country you last came in from) and if that puts you at risk of persecution then "oh dear, how sad, never mind you should have thought about that earlier
Just a few things that we do wrong in the UK and would benefit from learning from others
And before anyone says anything, I have absolutely no problem with people coming to work in the UK, paying their taxes and benefitting from a system they contribute to but the ones who try to sneak in on dodgy documents or for nefarious purposes - kick the bastards straight back out. This whole concept of asylum seekers (going a bit off thread now) is a joke as far as an island nation is concerned - Asylum is to be granted in the FIRST safe haven they reach ... er France, Italy, Spain - how do they manage to get into UK from mainland Europe and then claim asylum FFS?
Rant over - nearly!