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others, it may simply be the hope of a better economic life. Whatever the reason, the smuggling gangs understand the incentive. If they believe there will be customers, they will continue selling the journey. This leads us to an important point. **Stopping the boats may require more than stopping the boats.** Britain has to attack the business behind them. That means identifying and prosecuting the people who organise the crossings. It means working with French authorities and other countries. It means finding ways of making the smuggling business less profitable. And it means having a system capable of dealing quickly with the people who do arrive. Because if somebody crosses the Channel and then waits a very long time for a decision, the system becomes slower, more expensive and harder for the public to understand. This is where public frustration begins to grow. People see the boats arriving. They hear that people are being accommodated while their claims are considered. They hear about unsuccessful claims that cannot immediately be followed by removal. And they ask: **?If somebody has no right to remain, why can't they simply be sent back??** That is a reasonable question. But again, the answer is not as simple as it sounds. Britain cannot automatically return every person to whichever country it chooses. There may be no agreement allowing that return. The person's identity may not be established. The country of origin may refuse to accept them. There may be an asylum claim still being considered. There may also be legal challenges. This is where the public debate often becomes confused. People see the end result. They do not necessarily see all the steps that have to happen behind the scenes. That does not mean the system is working well. It does not mean the government cannot change it. And it certainly does not mean the public should simply accept the situation forever. It means we need to understand **where the real obstacles are**. Only then can we decide which obstacles should be removed, which laws should be changed, which agreements should be renegotiated and which policies should be abandoned. That is the purpose of this book. Not to say: **?Nothing can be done.?** Quite the opposite. The question is: **What can Britain actually do that will make a measurable difference?** That is where we go next. # Chapter Three ## Where Does the System Break Down? If Britain wants to reduce irregular migration, it needs to know exactly where the problem lies. It is tempting to look at a photograph of a small boat arriving on a British beach and say, ?There is the problem.? But the boat is only the final part of a much longer journey. The real system begins long before somebody reaches the English Channel. A person may leave their home country, travel through several other countries, find their way to northern France and eventually come into contact with a people-smuggling organisation. By the time they reach the beach, a great deal has already happened. That means Britain cannot solve the entire problem from the British side of the Channel alone. ### The first weakness: the smugglers The people-smuggling gangs are businesses. Their product is a journey. They advertise it. They collect money for it. They organise transport. They arrange boats. And when one method becomes difficult, they look for another. That makes them very different from an ordinary criminal who commits an offence once and disappears. They are running an ongoing operation. If Britain wants to reduce crossings permanently, it has to make that business much harder to operate. That means