37,000 Migrants Lost After Skipping Bail or Fleeing Detention Centres

The Government has lost track of over 37,000 migrants after they skipped bail or absconded from detention centres, a freedom of information request has revealed.

Home Office figures revealed that the majority of the migrants are classified as “in-country absconders” after having failed to report to immigration officials or simply escaped from detention centres. An estimated 134 are categorised as “port absconders”, meaning that they evaded border controls in order to enter the UK.

The figures showed that in total, 37,302 foreign nationals have gone unaccounted for over the past three decades until the end of September this year.

The data release comes as eight supposed asylum-seekers disappeared from the makeshift migrant camp at the Napier Barracks in Folkestone, Kent, last week.

The barracks were converted in September to house some 400 migrants as the system was overwhelmed by record numbers of illegal boat migrants pouring across the English Channel, with nearly 9,000 illegal landings recorded since the beginning of the year.

In November, footage shared on social media showed a gang of migrants in the camp attempting to break down the base’s barricades.

While the migrants are not required by law to remain in the detention centre, they must inform immigration officials about their whereabouts and their new home address.

A July report from the National Audit Office revealed that the government does not have a clear picture of the total number of illegal migrants residing in the country, with estimates claiming that as many as 1.2 million illegals may be loose in the UK.