'the discussion should be about helping legal immigrants and discouraginging illegal ones People who apply and are granted entry to any country are an asset.

- no argument!

'Those who sneek in usually cause problems.'

Illegal immigrants are often very real victims themselves - remember the Morecambe Bay tragedy
btw I was glad to see this report a couple of weeks ago

"Hundreds of people a year are illegally brought into Britain, often under the promise of lucrative work, and a significant number end up working as virtual slaves for families.
They often have their false identity papers confiscated, are given little or no pay and suffer mistreatment.
Bondage can occur when illegal immigrants are forced to work to pay off "debts" for non-existent services such board and lodging. People who want to leave or go to the police are sometimes threatened with violence or told their families will suffer."

from a report in The Independent from SIX years ago!

Four years ago Spain, who had a very large problem, launched a programme granting legal amnesty to up to 800,000 undocumented immigrants.

It was estimated that more than one million people lived and worked in Spain illegally - thousands in two of Spain's most important industries: agriculture and construction without any legal status, they formed the most vulnerable layer of Spanish society.

Applicants who could prove they arrived before a specified date, had a job contract and no criminal record, had three months to sign up as taxpayers.

A member of the Spanish government explained at the time
"We have a number of illegal immigrants in Spain who are not contributing to the system, to the social system, with their taxes and who have been working here on an irregular basis where they are exposed to illegal gangs."

The 'solution' was not without its critics

The Panorama programme : Immigration - Time For An Amnesty? - was shown on BBC One at 8.30pm on Monday 9 March 2009.

Boris Johnson, mayor of London, the city where the majority of the UK's illegal immigrants reside, is in favour of an amnesty.
He told the programme -
"If it does look as though they could make a contribution to society, we should regularise their status or offer them the chance of regularising their status.
There would be some very tough criteria. Obviously no criminal record would be one, an ability to support yourself and support your family, commitment to society and the most, the most important thing is they should have been here for a considerable period of time."

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