The numbers have exponentially increased in recent years, and it is now a mainstream issue where once it was a taboo subject, but that is because we have proved to be both impotent and incompetent in acknowledging danger that lurked within.

And for those whose first duty was – and is – to keep its people safe, shame on you.

A chilling prophecy of what lay in store came as recently as 2016 when “child” asylum seekers from the sprawling Calais Jungle arrived in the UK as part of a mercy mission.

At the time the Home Office said it was rescuing vulnerable children and gave them the benefit of doubt as some questioned their ages.

Those who stated the obvious – that many were grown men with protruding Adam’s apples and five o’clock shadows – were subjected to horrific abuse, including death threats.

One such person was David Davies, then a backbench Tory MP and later Secretary of State for Wales, who said those entering the UK should undergo checks to verify their ages.

The Home Office ruled out dental X-rays, one such suggestion, after experts said it would be intrusive, unethical and unreliable.

Almost a decade ago Mr Davies warned: “I have been contacted by people in teaching or social services saying there is a major problem with men in their 20s claiming to be children being placed into foster care or schools with minors when it is quite clear to professionals they are not. This poses an obvious risk, therefore we have to get this right.”

It is now safe to say we got it all spectacularly wrong.

The dormancy with which successive governments pretended to address this crisis – now a full-blown national emergency – is playing out on our streets as fearful communities across Britain rage against the apathy with which Westminster treats the threat.

In the same year Mr Davies was vilified for suggesting some “child” migrants appeared over the age of 18 and those who did should undergo medical checks, Tony Smith, formerly the Border Force boss, gave a grim foreboding of where our laissez faire attitude would eventually lead.

He said: “I am afraid the only way to achieve more removals is to detain people and forcibly put them on planes. My question is do we have the public appetite for that?

“We have to show a system that demonstrates to the smugglers and traffickers – and the migrants themselves – it’s not the end of the rainbow if they get here because there is a good chance they will get deported. I don’t think we are doing that at the moment.”

And so it has come to pass.

Anyone seriously suggesting this government has the answers or possesses the gumption to sort this mess out is living in cloud cuckoo land.

Labour campaigned on a manifesto pledge to scrap the Conservative’s Rwanda deportation scheme and, in its very first act after winning the general election, Sir Keir Starmer declared the “gimmick” “dead and buried”. Not one plane took off.

Instead he promised a more effective approach to tackling illegal immigration. None has been forthcoming.

Asleep-at-the-wheel pen pushers at the Home Office have not the foggiest idea how many asylum seekers have gone AWOL since pitching up in this country. Pick a number, times it by 10, and add 1,000 and you’re likely no closer to establishing the size of the UK’s underground population. It is a monumental scandal.

Our shambolic asylum system cost taxpayers £4.9billion last year – the bulk of which was blown on accommodation – but the true figure will be significantly higher.

We are viewed – by both those who come here illegally and other countries – as a soft touch. And our politicians, past and present, remain woefully out of touch.

Negligence on their watch caused this security and public safety emergency. And it is unforgivable.