It's just that I don't think letting them all in without let or hindrance would be viable. It would certainly stop these dangerous attempts to cross the Channel, but if our doors were wide open to all (a nice thought but we'd be inundated) our resources would be absolutely overstretched and our society infrastructure would crumble.

The whole point of the Home Office's stringency was to ensure my husband would not be a burden on the UK State. They were very exercised to verify that I had sufficient financial resources to keep him, a property above a certain value and that he was not just some chancer using me to gain entry. (Our entire relationship history was put under the microscope!)

His brother is a 'sans papiers' dodging about in Paris in the St Denis area. A visitor's visa was obtained for him by a local Mayor in Ivory Coast, and he overstayed. He's now working illegally, and lives among a huge herd of other African 'sans papiers'. He has no health care available and is very vulnerable to exploitation.

I can't see a solution to this problem.
Please don't anyone think I have no sympathy with these poor folk. They are merely seeking a better life. But our country is small and we can't just let everybody in with no controls at all.