Washington, D.C. (October 2, 2025) – This week’s episode of Parsing Immigration Policy features Katie Lam, Conservative Member of Parliament for Weald of Kent and a Shadow Home Office Minister, who brings a British perspective on the pressing issue of immigration.
Since 1974, the UK’s immigration system has been marked by broken promises to the voters and rising numbers – despite repeated pledges to reduce migration. Net migration has averaged 100,000+ annually since 1977, peaking at more than 900,000 in 2023, creating profound economic, cultural, and practical challenges.
In a conversation with Mark Krikorian, the Center’s Executive Director, Lam argues that both legal and illegal migration must be tackled head-on:
Legal Migration
- Current system brings in too many people and is insufficiently selective.
- Health & Social Care visa was projected to bring in 6,000 entrants – but saw 600,000 arrivals, many not working in the sector.
- Consequence: artificially low wages, huge costs to taxpayers in part due to long-term settlement rights that provide welfare, housing, and full healthcare.
- Solution: cut and cap numbers, set clear criteria.
Illegal Migration
- Over 30,000 illegal Channel crossings so far this year – the 2025 number will be a record high.
- Criminal gangs drive the crossings, costing taxpayers 52,000 pounds per person annually – before even receiving asylum – in housing, food, clothing, and spending money.
- Lam supports the Rwanda plan – a third-country asylum model to deter unlawful entry.
She also raises concerns about judicial overreach, international treaties, and the erosion of parliamentary authority in controlling borders.
Lam makes the case for a reformed Conservative Party to deliver consistent, specific, and enforceable immigration policies – restoring trust with voters and winning in the future election.
In today's commentary, Mark Krikorian notes the role that taxpayer-funded healthcare for illegal aliens plays in the current government shutdown debate and observes that the only major immigration function that stops during a shutdown is E-Verify.
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