MPs say Home Office has ‘major holes’ in understanding of how many illegal migrants in the country

The civil servants who enforce immigration rules have no idea how many illegal migrants are living in Britain, MPs said yesterday.

The Home Office has not assessed the total number living here without permission for 15 years – a period in which there has been an unprecedented influx.

It has no grasp of the damage done by illegal immigration or of the criminals associated with it, and it has only a ‘disturbingly weak’ understanding of the effects of its own efforts to stop illegal immigration or deport people with no right to be in the country, MPs said.

Last year, officials released 62 per cent of detainees it had intended to remove from the UK – up from 56 per cent in 2018.

The findings from the Commons public accounts committee – the public spending watchdog – come amid growing concern about the failure of Home Secretary Priti Patel and her officials to stop the arrival across the Channel of illegal immigrants in small boats.

MPs said the Home Office was unprepared for the end of co-operation on immigration with EU nations after Brexit, and this could boost illegal immigration and make it harder to deport those who shouldn’t be in Britain.

Referring to the increasing numbers of immigration detainees released instead of being returned to their country of origin, the committee, chaired by Labour MP Meg Hillier, said: ‘The department does not really understand why this figure is so high or what it can do ensure these returns are completed as planned.

‘The department does not make decisions based on evidence, it instead risks making them on anecdote, assumption and prejudice.’ 

The MPs added: ‘The department believes this rise reflects abuse of asylum claims… but it did not provide any systematic analysis to support this.

‘Given the strong passions on all sides of the immigration debate, a Government department making unsupported claims of this kind risks inflaming prejudices against legitimate immigrants and bona fide asylum seekers.’

The committee also said of the Home Office: ‘Worryingly, it has no idea of what impact it has achieved for the £400million spent each year by its immigration enforcement directorate.

‘There are major holes in the department’s understanding of the size and scale of illegal immigration and the extent and nature of any resulting harm.’ 

Its findings undermine confidence in the Home Office as it prepares to supervise the Government’s new points-based immigration system, which will only allow well-qualified, high-skilled people from abroad to move to the UK. 

Former Home Office officials have suggested at least a million illegal immigrants are in Britain.

The committee said the Home Office’s failure to carry out assessments could allow exaggerated estimates from others to ‘inflame hostility towards immigrants’.

The MPs said the Home Office gave the impression that it made decisions based on preconceptions, lack of curiosity and ‘even prejudice’, and warned it had to do more to change the behaviour from civil servants that led to the Windrush scandal in 2018, when the Government was forced to apologise after deportation threats were made to the children of Commonwealth citizens.

There remained ‘a risk of harm and distress to innocent people who are here perfectly legally,’ the committee said.

The MPs’ report added: ‘The significant lack of diversity at senior levels of the department means it does not access a sufficiently wide range of perspectives when establishing rules and assessing the human impact of its decisions. 

‘Professional judgment cannot be relied upon if an organisation has blind spots, and the Windrush scandal demonstrated the damage such a culture creates.’

Alp Mehmet, of the Migration Watch UK think-tank – which has produced consistently accurate estimates of legal and illegal immigration over the past two decades – said: ‘This is a scathing report that pinpoints the failings of the Home Office – its failure to make available more data on the effectiveness of enforcement, about the scale of illegal immigration and on what the department itself believes to be increasing abuse of the asylum system. 

‘It is in everyone’s interests that immigration decisions are based on accurate evidence. Clearly, the committee does not think this is happening.’  

Fury as top judge stops asylum seekers being deported to Spain

A High Court judge was accused of lacking common sense last night after stopping the Home Office from deporting three asylum seekers who arrived in Britain after crossing the Channel in small boats.

The men were due to be sent on a charter flight to Spain, the first European country they entered on their journeys to Britain.

But Sir Duncan Ouseley ruled that they had to stay in Britain because there was a danger they would be destitute in Spain.

The three men, a Syrian and two from Yemen, had travelled to Britain from north Africa, but first set foot on the European mainland in Spain. 

EU rules say illegal immigrants should be deported to the first EU country they arrived in, and Spanish authorities had agreed they should be returned and make asylum claims there. 

Asylum seeker campaign groups welcomed the ruling, but Alp Mehmet, of the Migration Watch UK think-tank, accused judges of taking an unreasonable approach to asylum law.

He added: ‘This is a clear example of a case where the courts seem to have forgotten to use common sense. 

‘They have consistently avoided doing what most people in this country would expect them to do. 

‘It is not the first time this has happened and it won’t be the last, but that doesn’t make it any more acceptable to the majority of people in this country.’

Lawyers representing the three men said there had been criticism of Spanish reception facilities, with reports of asylum seekers being forced to sleep rough because the border post at Madrid Airport had been ‘overwhelmed by demand’.

The men were also said to be vulnerable and have mental health issues.

Sir Duncan said this was a ‘serious issue’ and the risks they faced should be investigated at another hearing.

His decision is also thought to affect the removal of other asylum seekers due to be deported on the same flight. 

Bella Sankey, of the immigration campaign group Detention Action, said: ‘This is a landmark victory for human rights, our common humanity and the rule of law.

‘Of course the UK must not deport those fleeing persecution to near-certain homelessness and destitution.’

Home Secretary Priti Patel said: ‘We are bitterly disappointed with the court’s ruling, which has prevented us from returning people who have no right to be here.

‘This case has not abated our determination and we have more flights planned in the coming weeks and months.’

This September has already become the busiest month ever recorded for migrants crossing the Channel in small boats, with at least 1,490 making the treacherous journey across the world’s busiest shipping route.

The total for the year is 6,515.

Dan O’Mahoney, Clandestine Channel Threat Commander, said: ‘These migrants are leaving France – a safe country where those seeking refuge can and should claim asylum, rather than attempting these perilous crossings to the UK.’