Uhm are you sure about those numbers?

0.8m is like on the average a whole county in the UK, and such massive influx would destroy the housing- and job market. Not to mention pressure on schools and healthcare.

Exactly, this is what I am saying. The 0.8-1m number is the legal, net migration into the UK, very significant, and adding to the downsides people associate with immigration. It's not all downsides etc etc but still.

The 37k small boats migration is very small in comparison. Plus there's illegal immigration not via small boats - overstayed visas etc.

Hence my point that the overfocus on small boats crossings seems misplaced to me.

What do you think is happening to those markets?

The actual number is like half of that because while 800k people came, about 400k people left.

I am an immigrant myself but I start to think that such policies are short-sighted. The end result is often fragmentation of the society, because immigrants rarely truly integrate, and at some point they become the majority, and then you're effectively a minority in your own country. It takes at least two generations for newcomers to become fully integrated, and that assumes things going right.