Illegal Migrants: Deportations at lowest level EVER

Deportations have plummeted to their lowest level on record - Figures show that the number of illegal immigrants, visa overstayers and foreign criminals leaving the UK fell by an astonishing 34 per cent last year.

The figures were quietly released last week and could fall even further after it emerged Home Office lawyers are discreetly dropping challenges to dozens of asylum and immigration cases before they are even heard by judges. 

Official figures show there were just 5,304 enforced returns of foreign nationals in the 12 months to June and 8,088 voluntary returns.

One in five of all those kicked out of the country was Romanian, followed by Albanians (13 per cent), Brazilians (10 per cent), Poles (9 per cent) and Lithuanians (5 per cent). 

The Home Office admitted that the number of enforced returns was ‘the lowest number since records began in 2004’, but claimed the fall was mainly down to the Covid-19 lockdown. 

A new report also shows how the Home Office is challenging fewer immigration cases, leading to more people being granted leave to remain. At the start of June, the Home Office withdrew challenges to decisions in 33 out of 181 cases.

The Home Office said: ‘We are committed to removing dangerous foreign national offenders and those with no right to be in the UK and who do not comply with our immigration laws.’