Immigrants go home ...

pragmatic

You are describing the status quo, we need fresh thinking.  Getting tough and jailing a few people might be expensive, but the vast majority will see that the authorities have some teeth, right now they move people on.  Hardly little more than an inconvenience for someone traveling the length and breadth of Europe to get to Calais.

Maybe back to the op, we need a media campaign explaining the life and conditions of illegal immigrants, poor housing, low wages no long term job prospects, no benefits (although the free healthcare is probably more than enough for many), always looking over your shoulder, generally a very poor quality of life and that's for the lucky ones that don't end up becoming drug addicts, prostitutes or even slaves.
Maybe try and get some interviews out of those smuggling themselves out of the UK and plaster that about.

Pisto_Grih

For someone willing to hang on to the axle of an artic or suffocate in a container to get here, someone who has potentially been living under a tarp for months, what they will take out of that is "housing, wages, short term job prospects..."

We need to secure our borders, because once illegal immigrants realise they cant get across the channel, they will discover the joys of France - and then it will be down to France to secure their borders.

Trollslayer

Which means an investment.
In turn that should be offset by less cost to the nation in time.

potshot

Now a millionaire couple in malta have bought a ship to find immigrants at sea and rescue them and take them Italy after the pope said ferry all the immigrants to Europe.  I see they don't take them to malta and dump them in Italy who know they will all make their way to the UK.  Shouldn't the couple be charged with aiding illegal immigrants to enter Europe.  If the whole of Africa came to Europe there would be stabding room only.  They take resources what we can't afford to give and with so many countries in the EU struggling and bankrupt they can't afford to keep these people who should be shipped straight back to Africa.

Trollslayer

Yes, there could be a European arrest warrant issued so using a different country won't help them.

robel

If England is to deal with this properly they need to up their game on all fronts including border control and benefits plus as others have said, it needs to be dealt with much closer to the source....

Sonic67

If UKIP did this wouldn't it be racist?

Ed Miliband promises immigration crackdown within weeks of winning power - Telegraph

What's the difference?

pragmatic

The thing is they are all sensible agreeable (on the surface), but why is it not happening, labour agree, Tories agree LD are irrelevance for the vote, lets get it through parliament now, no need to wait.

loz

The difference is no one believes Ed, and the policy would be quickly kicked into the long grass once they had used it to win power. *  It's just a soundbite to please the electorate.

*whilst the same may well be true of the Tories. Though in this case I think they would be more likely to see it through than Labour.  That said, they may have to drop it as a condition of maintaining a coalition with the Libdems. That is a big if though...

potshot

I don't believe him and the british public doesn't believe him.  He wanted to send a serious message out on immigration then he would promise a referendum on Europe because 80% of the immigration is from Europe.