Sign up for our free Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy noticeEnding irregular migration across the English Channel is a process, not an event. In fact, given its stubborn nature, it may never prove possible to completely “stop the boats” in a literal sense. Irregular migration remains what it has always been – a small proportion of the total legal inwards flow of people. It may be unfashionable to argue the point, but the government’s action on irregular migration is having effect, and the statistics bear that out.