Deportations Down 51 Per Cent Compared to Pre-Covid

New official government statistics comparing the year to September 2022 to 2019 — because 2020 and much of 2021 were aberrant due to the impact of the 'pandemic' and associated state control measures — show enforced return deportations of foreign nationals fell from the already low figure of 7,198 to a mere 3,531, despite visa overstaying and so-called “clandestine” migration by small boat passengers and vehicle stowaways, for example, both being in the tens of thousands.

In contrast, Cyprus, a Mediterranean island nation in the European Union with a far smaller population than the United Kingdom, managed to deport approaching twice as many migrants, representing around 70 per cent of the annual influx.

“Enforced returns have been declining since the peak in 2012,” the government admitted in an official release accompanying the new figures, emphasising that “[n]umbers have increased to over 1,000 during July to September 2022” but conceding that “this is still below the pre-pandemic levels in 2019 (which saw around 1,800 returns per quarter).”

Returns of so-called Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) — i.e. foreign criminals — specifically are also down by double digits compared to 2019, seeing a 42 per cent from 5,128 to 2,958.

To put this in context, figures from London’s Metropolitan Police force showing that they alone arrested foreign nationals 38,701 times in 2022.