Why are so many migrants trying to get to England?

So this is something I've been wondering for a while now, perhaps the Brits on the forum can shed some light on it. There are so many news reports lately about huge groups of migrants from Africa and the Middle East trying to force their way into the Chunnel to get from Calais to England, but it seems like such a huge risk considering these people have already made it to Western Europe, which you'd think would be the promise land. I understand that England might carry more gravitas in their home countries and that England's economy is doing better than France's, but it still seems crazy to me that at this point, when they're already thousands of miles from their homes and they've made it across the Mediterranean or through Turkey that they'd take one more huge risk for what seems to me like a moderate improvement in their fortunes.

Are there some immigration laws in the UK I'm not aware of, or is something else going on?

They speak English, a lot of people from African countries have family members in the UK, they think they can find work there, it has a reasonably open benefit system etc.

But to be honest, the stories here are overblown. Germany is taking in far more migrants. The idea that the UK has a more generous benefit system than France is a bit of a myth too, though it is one that some migrants may believe.

Link: Germany expecting 800000 asylum seekers this year. Makes a few thousand trying to get through the tunnel seem trivial.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-33992563

You'll see the UK is way down the chart and those proportions are broadly similar to the number of people attempting illegal entry.

Illegal entry to the UK always gets more news because as an island it has a heck of a lot more control over it than many nations. With no borders, it always takes effort to sneak in.

Same reason so many Chinese are trying to get into Russia.

Its all Obama's fault.

To get their sweet, sweet tea.

Here are some opinions gathered by interview of those trying to get into the UK:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-33907741

possibly for the same reasons asylum seekers are trying to come to australia

although truth be told i dont know what the brits are like with their asylum seeking laws
in australia it is illegal to tell the public what goes on in the detention centres and many claim it borders on criminal or torture

They are big Harry Potter fans.

Thanks for your responses, especially Ush.