November 06, 2020
The continued failure to remove foreign ex-offenders may be posing an ever-greater risk to the public.
A new Migration Watch UK briefing (MW 484 - Foreign National Offenders) finds that the number of foreign ex-offenders living in the community has more than doubled from 4,000 in 2012 to 9,400 in 2020.
This has been paralleled by a decreasing use of detention and deportation (both of which can help protect the public) - with over 1,000 less foreign national offenders (FNO) returns since 2016
The purpose of the brief is to lay out the various facts, processes and rules surrounding this important topic.
The 2019 Queen's Speech contained legislation to 'maximise removal of foreign national offenders and deter them from returning to the UK'.
However, despite having been criticised by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders for a failure to release adequate information about re-offending by non-UK ex-offenders, the government still refuses to disclose the scale of the problem - with a recent ministerial answer declining to reveal details.
The Migration Watch UK summary finds:
A Migration Watch UK spokesperson said:
The massive increase in the number of foreign ex-offenders living in the community may be putting the public at unnecessary risk. We’ve already seen horrific cases of reoffending by those who should not have been here at all. The government must deliver on its promise to ensure more effective enforcement in this area.