Priti Patel’s Home Office has reportedly failed to launch a single deportation flight for illegal migrants since the United Kingdom officially left the European Union’s institutions at the beginning of the year.
So far this year, a record 587 boat migrants have been brought ashore by the authorities, with 66 illegals landing on Tuesday. This is over double the number that landed during the same time period last year, which stood at 246, according to the BBC.
Following Brexit, the United Kingdom amended its immigration laws, meaning that migrants can no longer claim asylum if they were either intercepted at sea or are found to have passed through a safe third country prior to coming to Britain.
Despite this, the Home Office under the leadership of Priti Patel has yet to carry out any flights to deport the hundreds of migrants that have landed this year, The Telegraph reports.
The EU’s Dublin agreement on the return of migrants expired following the end of the 2020 “transition” period in which the UK remained an EU member in all but name. Since then, the government has failed to come to an agreement with the European Union over the return of failed asylum seekers or illegal migrants, and is still not turning them back on its own initiative.
The Telegraph claimed that the negotiations are currently ongoing, but there has been no indication that a deal is imminent.
If an agreement were to be reached, it is still unclear as to how effective it would be, as many migrants destroy their personal documents prior to attempting to reach Britain illegally, also making it difficult to persuade their native country to take them back.
The Boris Johnson administration also has expressed no intention of leaving the European Convention on Human Rights, upheld by the European Court of Human Rights which still has jurisdiction in Britain.
This prohibits sending migrants back to their countries if they are likely to suffer from torture or other inhumane treatment, even if they are terrorists, sexual predators, or otherwise present a danger to the public.
UK Deportations of Foreign Criminals Fell 79 per cent Last Year, Despite Patel’s Promises to ‘Get Tough’ https://t.co/5PazItcV8R
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) January 19, 2021
“Despite Government efforts, such as they are, the situation gets worse. Indeed, it’s a mess. It will only start to improve once illegal arrivals are returned quickly in much greater numbers,” commented Alp Mehmet, chairman of the Migration Watch UK think tank.
“The initiative remains with the traffickers, who are ultimately succeeding. The French too must deal more effectively with the problem at their end and stop escorting illegal immigrants into British waters.”
A Home Office spokesman simply repeated that with Brexit, the United Kingdom is no longer bound by the “EU’s Dublin Regulation which was rigid, inflexible and often abused by meritless claims that would effectively time out the process.”
“The UK will continue to seek to return people who have no right to be here and arrive in the UK through illegally-facilitated crossings,” the spokesman added, failing to acknowledge the fact that this is not actually happening.
Report: Glasgow Stabber ‘Very Hungry’ Sudanese Man, Migrants Unhappy with ‘Culturally Inappropriate’ Spaghetti, Mac and Cheese Meals at Hotel https://t.co/uFjJ9zGfJh
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) June 27, 2020
The report also revealed that the former military barracks turned migrant camp in Folkestone, Kent, has cost the British taxpayer nearly £1 million to police since opening in September of last year.
Amid record-breaking illegal boat migration last year, the Home Office began housing migrants, some of whom were lethally violent, in hotels across the country.
As the waves of illegal migrants continued to pour into the country, the government began using former military bases, such as the Napier Barracks in Kent, to accommodate the overflowing migrant population.
The government’s policing minister, Kit Malthouse, granted Kent Police some £850,000 to cover the costs of policing the asylum seekers in the camp.
Migrants in the camp have staged several protests and hunger strikes since their arrival, necessitating a police presence to monitor the situation.
In January, a fire broke out in the camp, with 14 of the migrants being arrested in connection to the suspected arson attack.
Illegal Migrants Unhappy with Free Accommodation in ‘Racist’ UK Want to Return to EU https://t.co/xBqAni6Zct
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) February 7, 2021
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