I FULLY agree with Venk Shenoi’s letter (August 7) concerning illegal immigration. As he implies, the vast majority of people that have left their own country are not refugees but economic migrants who are able to, via the communications available today, make the decision to leave their homes and try to end their journey in a country that will give them a higher standard of living than they have and take advantage of the benefits made available.

A lot of them pay large sums of money to people traffickers to make their journey. If they are poor and destitute, where do they get the money from? It also shocks me how some of these “parents” bring their small children with them, endangering their lives and some losing them.

International law states that people who wish to register as asylum seekers, must register in the first country in the Schengen agreement that they come to and give substantiated proof of their case. The vast majority deliberately destroy or dispose of their passports, identity cards etc. to prevent any authority from discovering who they are, where they have come from, determining their status and deporting them back to their country of origin.

Existing camps should be used and new ones set up in Africa and Europe to hold these people until their status is established. None should be allowed to leave the camps, either of their own volition or with the collusion of the authorities of the countries they are in.

All involved countries should urgently provide sufficient staff to process these people rapidly and repatriate them as determined. If the illegal immigrants have no papers they should be treated as suspect and urgently returned to countries determined by the authorities. All involved countries should assist in the cost of these facilities but all costs should be minutely examined to prevent corruption not just given.

We have seen the situation on the Greek island of Kos. Hundreds of immigrants rioting and fighting police and staff at a football ground issuing papers. People shouting at television cameras, demanding papers and saying they don’t want to remain in Greece but to move on. Greece and the Greek islands are not able to cope with this in their present economic situation which is almost at breaking point and causing further difficulties. The illegal activities are also happening in France but little seems to be done to maintain rule of law. No one forced the immigrants to go to these countries and they should be grateful for the help they receive but also remember they brought it on themselves.

This situation is now out of hand and David Cameron and the Government need to show courage to deal with it urgently. The Governments of other countries need to behave accordingly. Illegal immigrants are arriving here on a daily basis, some not being arrested and detained and disappearing into the country. They eventually claim benefits of any description they are not entitled to. Our immigration policy needs urgent overhaul.

– Pat McEvoy, Mitchel­dean.