More than 45,000 foreign national offenders and individuals who have exhausted their asylum claims are expected to be removed from the UK over the next decade following a major
expansion of immigration detention capacity.
The government has announced plans to expand the Haslar and Campsfield Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs), increasing the UK's detention capacity by approximately 40% for individuals who have no legal right to remain in the country.
The projects will increase the combined capacity of the two centres from 290 to around 1,000 beds. According to the government, the additional detention spaces will enable more immigration offenders and illegal migrants to be detained ahead of their removal.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said:
“Returns and deportations are at their highest level in nearly a decade.
Nearly 70,000 individuals with no right to be here have been removed from the UK since this government took office.
But we will not stop there. These expansions will see thousands more foreign criminals and illegal migrants who have no right to be here removed”.
The announcement follows the publication of a report by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI), which stated that the government inherited an immigration system with an estimated 412,000 people living in the UK illegally.
The government says the expansion builds on increased immigration enforcement activity, with removals reaching their highest level in almost ten years.
Since taking office, nearly 70,000 illegal migrants and foreign national offenders have been returned, representing a 41% increase compared with the previous 21-month period. Of those removed, around 10,000 were foreign national offenders, an increase of 36%.
The Home Secretary also confirmed plans to double the Immigration Enforcement budget by 2028–29 and increase workforce numbers by 60% between 2024 and 2026–27. The government says the additional investment will support more enforcement operations, arrests and removals.
The government has also confirmed that an Immigration and Asylum Bill will be introduced, as outlined in the King's Speech. The proposed legislation will include reforms to aspects of human rights law, including modern slavery legislation and Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which ministers say are intended to reduce legal challenges that delay the removal of individuals with no right to remain in the UK. Photo by Canley at English Wikipedia, Wikimedia commons.
