The UK government has announced a significant increase in the number of individuals removed from the country, surpassing its target of achieving the highest removal rate since 2018, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper revealed on Monday.
Since the election, 16,400 people with no right to be in the UK have been removed, representing a 24% increase compared to the same period in the previous year, authorities said in a statement on Sunday.
"Throughout January alone, Immigration Enforcement teams descended on 828 premises, including nail bars, convenience stores, restaurants, and car washes, marking a 48% rise compared to the previous January," a government statement revealed.
“This government was elected on a promise of change—and within just 6 months we have redeployed resources for a scheme that returned just 4 volunteers and instead worked to remove 16,400 people with no right to be here,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Sunday.
Record crackdown
The UK government has attributed this success to a range of measures, including the deployment of bespoke charter flights to remove large numbers of individuals to their countries of origin. Four of the largest return flights in UK history, each carrying over 800 people, have been conducted since the election, authorities added.
Furthermore, the government has re-established asylum processing, cleared the backlog of asylum claims, and significantly increased the number of asylum interviews conducted.
"By restarting asylum processing to help clear the backlog and redeploying 1,000 staff to work on immigration enforcement, the government has been able to achieve this level of removals within 6 months of coming to office," a government spokesperson stated.
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