I don't blame people for wanting a better life. Human nature dictates that you will seek the best deal for yourself and your family. So, people will migrate to find the best life for themselves. Migration
at all levels is a purely selfish act, no-one thinks "This will benefit the economy", or "this country really needs people like me.".
If I were to get a job abroad and move, it would be because they had offered me more money, or a comparitively better standard of living. Not because I felt I had something amazing to offer their country. But, they would be looking at me and thinking "Hey, Adam can bring us a skill we want more of!"
It is in our very instincts to migrate.
However, what we are seeing is a movement towards the lowest-common-denominator, instead of gaining synergy from bringing in fresh blood. We aren't bringing in people who are really offering us much in return for what we are giving them. I am sure that people would be far more comfortable about immigration if it brought tangible benefits.
Now, what to do about it? Is it difficult? I don't think it is, to be honest:
1) Immediately bring in a policy of immigration to meet requirements. That means rejecting the requests of people who can't offer us immediate benefit. There have been moves towards this already, in fact don't all people entering with the intention of working have to pass an English test (even Aussies, Canadians, Kiwis etc!)
2) Anyone who wishes to remain here must have secured a job contract AND a home BEFORE they are allowed in.
3)
Hault the ingress of asylum seekers until all those in the queue have been processed.
4)
Asylum status granted only to those in immediate danger. Greater cooperation between the Home Office and the FCO in order to decide if they really are in danger
5) Asylum automatically refused for anyone CONVICTED of or awaiting trial for a crime that would have been a crime in the UK, all other crimes considered on a case-by-case basis. "Unsuitable" punishments for a conviction are NOT reason for asylum. This would mean we could take in "political prisoners", but not rapists and murderers.
6)
Turn people away at the borders. Armed guards at the French-end of the tunnel, for instance.
Now I understand a lot of this is already done, we just need to actually apply the rules!