No replies to this topic

[Guthlac]

http://www.express.c...orting-illegals


ILLEGAL immigrants are using human rights laws to cripple fast-track deportations.

Only 39 out of 456 people at the Morton Hall detention centre were deported in the five months since it reopened last May, according to UK Border Agency officials.

A further 116 inmates left the former prison in the same period but the agency does not know how many stayed in the country, had been bailed or simply moved to another holding centre.

Morton Hall was meant to speed up deportations but the Home Office said efforts to remove illegal immigrants were being hampered by the Human Rights Act. Detainees use the right to a family life, enshrined in the Act, to mount legal bids to remain in Britain.

Officials last night vowed to reform the system to stop the costly appeals.

Morton Hall, a former women’s prison in Lincolnshire, reopened as an immigration removal ­centre after a £6million refit. Inmates have access to computer suites, a hairdressing salon, 24-hour medical care, DVD library and a wide range of sports facilities.


It is one of 13 secure  centres set up to hold foreign prisoners, failed asylum seekers and migrants who overstay before they are deported. It will cost taxpayers almost £17million this year, including more than £10million in running costs.

Yesterday, Tory MP Priti Patel, who uncovered the statistics, said: “Illegal immigrants should be thrown out of Britain and not left to live a life of luxury at the expense of Britain’s hard-pressed taxpayers.

“The last Labour government left a horrendous mess in the immigration system and ministers in the Home Office today must change the law to remove illegal immigrants from Britain and protect taxpayers from these outrageous costs.”


When Damian Green, the immigration minister, opened thecentre, he said that a “tough ­system of enforcement and removal is one of the cornerstones our reformed asylum ­system”.

But today’s figures appear to show there is far to go before the current system of controls is fully reformed.

Last night, a Home Office spokesman said: “Detaining and removing foreign criminals who flout the rules is vital to protecting the public and to safeguarding the economy by controlling immigration.

“It is not acceptable that ­foreign offenders are winning more than 60 per cent of allowed appeals to stay under the right to a family life.

“We will shortly be changing the immigration rules to reflect the public interest in seeing the removal from the UK of those who should be removed.”

Separate figures published ­yesterday laid bare the full cost of “bribing” illegal immigrants to leave Britain.

More than £24.4million has been dished out to about 20,000 illegal immigrants and foreign prisoners who agreed to leave under the Facilitated Return Scheme.

Between October 2006 and 2010 the scheme cost just under half that amount but after a massive expansion the bill rocketed last year to £13million.