When will asylum loopholes be closed?

THE fact that migrants choose to live, work and study in Britain should be a cause for national pride.

But confidence in, and respect for, the visa system is being severely undermined.

Not only is net migration unsustainably high, which is putting enormous pressure on creaking public services.

But far too many are abusing our abysmally lax immigration rules.

The Mail today reveals one such apparent loophole which is being exploited as a back door to stay in Britain.

Leaked figures show soaring numbers of foreign nationals who enter the UK on timelimited visas are then claiming asylum.

Last year alone, a record 21,525 applications for refugee status were made by visa-holders. Over the past decade, a staggering 102,000 people have used this method to apply for sanctuary.

Even if these men and women are not fleeing war or persecution at home, they calculate that our immigration system, hobbled by New Labour’s Human Rights Act, is so broken they’ll never be deported.

This comes at an ever spiralling cost to the taxpayer, who must house and feed them. It also makes a mockery of our immigration laws.

What is the point of having any if a coach and horses can so effortlessly be driven through them?

Home Secretary James Cleverly has promised an urgent crackdown. The trouble is that closing these immigration loopholes is a little like the fairground game ‘Whack a Mole’. Each time one is tackled, another seems to emerge.

Genuine refugees are ill-served by those who game the system.

No wonder fewer people now think of asylum as an honest request for help and increasing numbers believe it’s just a dishonest racket.