The Government is not being open about removal of asylum seekers (Image: Getty)
The Government is refusing to say how many asylum seekers, who have withdrawn their applications, have been removed from the country and for any it hasn’t, if it knows where they are.
Under immigration laws, if an asylum seeker were to withdraw their application for asylum before it was completed, they would be classed as an illegal immigrant and could be returned to their country of origin.
The Home Office is also supposed to monitor the whereabouts of known illegal immigrants, with things like having to sign on at an immigration centre under bail conditions.
The Home Office has previously admitted that large numbers of failed asylum seekers, whose claims were rejected and not successfully appealed, or those who withdrew before it was finalized, have not been removed from the country.
However, it has refused to say how many have been returned.
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It followed a written Parliamentary question from Neil O’Brien, Tory MP for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston.
He asked this month: “How many and what proportion of former asylum applicants, who have withdrawn their applications (a) have left the country and (b) her department knew the location of in each year since 2015.”
Dame Angela Eagle, Minister of State for Border Security and Asylum, refused to provide the information, citing cost implications.
She replied: “The Home Office does not routinely publish the information you have requested, we are unable to provide this information, as it could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.”
It comes after Express.co.uk revealed last week that the total cost of housing and supporting across the country grew to more than £5.3billiuon in the year 2023/24 after an earlier pledge by the Government to reduce costs.