The British government has allowed in more illegal migrants than any other country in Europe, an international study has found.
Research conducted by Oxford University’s COMPAS centre and 17 other international universities has found that there are as many as between 594,000 and 745,000 illegal migrants living in the United Kingdom, meaning that over one in every 100 people are in the country illegally.
The estimates put Britain as the European nation with the most illegal aliens, followed by Germany (up to 700,000), France (300,000), Italy (458,000) and Spain (469,000), The Telegraph reports. The number of recorded illegals in Britain is roughly equivalent to a city the size of Leeds, the third-largest city in the UK.
However, the actual number of people who illegally entered the country is likely much higher, given that the researchers did not count asylum seekers in its tally, meaning that the vast majority of those who crossed the English Channel illegally were not counted as they almost all apply for asylum upon reaching British shores.
So far this year, some 26,612 illegal boat migrants have landed in Britain, a 5 per cent increase over this time last year, and nearly 1,000 aliens crossed the Channel on Saturday alone. French Interior Minister disclosed that four migrants died while attempting to traverse the dangerous waterway, including a two-year-old boy who was “trampled to death” in a small boat carrying around 90 illegals.
To the shame of the French and British governments which have not acted to remove the business case for the people smuggling gangs, this is not even the first time a young child has died by trampling in a trafficker boat in the English channel.
The 745,000 illegal migrants in the country — mostly visa overstays or rejected asylum seekers who disappeared into the country — comes in addition to the current backlog of asylum seekers — many of whom entered the country illegally — which stands at around 224,742. Due to the constant influx of illegals who then apply for asylum, the new Labour Party government will reportedly continue housing migrants in hotels at taxpayer expense for at least another three years, despite vowing to end the process promptly.
Given the opaque nature of illegal immigration and the apparent hesitancy of the government to be forthcoming with the public about the issue, estimates vary as to the cost of illegal immigration to the country.
In May, Dame Andrea Jenkyns told parliament that according to her analysis of government figures, illegal migrants are costing the UK at least £14 billion per year in just public services, which she noted is equivalent to around ten per cent of the budget for England’s National Health Service.
Meanwhile, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) reported earlier this month that the Home Office — the branch of the UK government tasked with managing immigration — spent £7.9 billion over the past three years on the asylum system, border control, and visa management.
Despite the high financial costs, as well as the break down in social cohesion, caused by influx of illegals, the report was hailed in the left-wing British press over its claims that the percentage of illegal immigrants in major European nations has remained steady since 2008 as somehow evidence that immigration is an over discussed issue.
However, illegal immigration does not occur in a vacuum, but rather in addition to mass legal migration into Europe and Britain as well as neo-liberal governments granting previous illegals asylum status, the percentage paints a somewhat limited picture of the reality.
The researchers surmised that the reason why the UK is apparently a more desired location for illegal migrants is likely to pull factors such as the black market economy which operates under the nose of the government.
Denis Kierans, senior researcher at Oxford’s Compas migration centre, said it was important for policymakers to know the scale because “these are people who are living and working in the UK, but who are operating outside the mainstream tax and benefits system. What that means is the state is missing out on their contributions to the public purse while they end up at the fringes of society, at risk of exploitation and destitution”.
