DUBLIN: More than 27,000 suspected illegal immigrants have been arrested by police over the last three years.
The scale of the arrests has triggered warnings that the state of the UK’s borders was ‘even worse’ than previously thought. The figures emerged as Home Secretary Amber Rudd dismissed threats from the French to ditch UK border checks at Calais. In her first real test since being promoted to the key job by Theresa May last month, Mrs Rudd has arrived in Paris for talks with counterpart Bernard Cazeneuve that are expected to touch on the issue.
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The figures on arrests, obtained by the BBC from police forces using freedom of information laws, lay bare the impact of the growing European refugee crisis, with numbers rising from 7,700 in 2013 to 9,600 last year. The total of 27,800 suspected illegal immigrants detained in England, Wales and Northern Ireland does not include those discovered at ports or airports, or people whose visas had expired. Many of the individuals arrested were picked up at places such as truck stops and motorway service stations after entering the UK hidden in lorries.
Separate figures yesterday also revealed that UK Border Force guards operating in Europe have caught 145,000 migrants trying to slip into Britain. They were caught at ‘juxtaposed controls’ – effectively Britain’s border on foreign soil.
The scale of the arrests triggered warnings that the UK’s border security was ‘even worse’ than previously thought. A former UK Border Agency head has claimed as many as one million foreigners may be living unlawfully in the UK. Meanwhile MPs and border chiefs warn that the arrest figures only scratch the surface.
Chris Hobbs, a former Scotland Yard border control officer, said: ‘Obviously these people are still getting through. And these are the ones that are being detected. What about the ones who are getting through undetected, who simply disappear?’
And Tory MP Charlie Elphicke, who represents Dover, added: ‘There must be concerns that this is just the tip of the iceberg. These shocking figures underline the need to take urgent action to make our borders secure.’ Home Affairs Select Committee chairman Keith Vaz said the figures undermined the Government’s claim that it had ‘water-tight security at our borders’.
‘If 27,000 people have been arrested for entering the country illegally by our police forces, then it shows that this problem is even worse than we had anticipated and we expect urgent action to be taken,’ the Labour MP told the BBC.
A Downing Street spokesman said: ‘I think the arrangements we have in place are proving to be effective, but we are not complacent about border security or border control.’ The Home Office said it would take action to remove someone who is found to have no right to remain in the UK.
