ABSTRACT
As the new millennium begins, the issue of irregular or illegal immigration vexes many nations, not least Britain. The 1980s and 1990s have been described as the era of people on the move. 1 The pressure for cross-border mass population movements will continue and it is clear that the traditional receiving countries are now thinking long and hard about what the appropriate policy response to these forces should be. Most countries in the affluent West now have significant ethnic minority populations, even among the traditional emigrant countries such as Italy, Spain and Greece. The issue is not just cross-border. China, as an example, faces the problem of millions of poor migrant workers arriving in the wealthier cities seeking a better life; this has become known as the problem of the so-called bamboo army. The unpleasant reality is no longer to welcome migrants, whether legal or illegal.
