Immigration raids at five-year low despite Priti Patel’s get-tough vow
IMMIGRATION raids are at a five-year low despite Home Secretary Priti Patel vowing get-tough measures.
Arrests have plunged, fewer foreign criminals are being deported and numbers crossing the Channel have rocketed.
Officials blame lockdown but campaigners have asked: “Where’s the control?”
Figures show there were 3,211 raids last year and 14,585 in 2019.
They have fallen annually since the 19,932 in 2016.
There were 610 arrests, down from 2,652 in 2019 and 3,862 in 2016, statistics show.
The Home Office deported 1,128 criminals in 2020 but 5,322 in 2019.
The ten ten-year average is 5,405.
Some 8,410 migrants were caught in the Channel last year but only 1,850 in 2019.
Earlier this year, the Home Office said at least 37,000 migrants had absconded in Britain, either from detention centres or on bail.
Mrs Patel has promised to act but Migration Watch said: “Home Office ministers talk tough but the facts tell a different story. Where’s the control we were promised?”
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Dr Alan Mendoza, of the Henry Jackson Society think tank, said: “While the country’s been locked down, people smugglers have been anything but. The basic steps to prevent illegal migration have not been taking place.”
The Home Office said more than 700 foreign national offenders had been removed this year.
It added: “Our New Plan for Immigration will overhaul our asylum system and speed up the removal of failed asylum seekers and foreign national offenders.”
Gangs: ‘Don’t go to Dover’
MIGRANT boats are being told to avoid Dover and are instead landing directly on English beaches.
Organised crime groups collect the migrants and take them to work at nail bars, hotels and takeaways.
It is understood gangsters use encrypted messaging to link up with the migrants upon arrival.
A source said they avoid Dover because it is more secure than other areas.
They added: “It’s going to be a summer of mayhem. Migrants become their property and work at their businesses.
“These are often fronts for organised crime. It’s a murky world.”