The Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has pledged to increase the removal and deportation of illegal migrants, after the largest deportation figures reported in a decade. Since the Labour government took office in 2024, over 50,000 illegals immigrants and foreign criminals have been removed from British soil as a result of tougher border control.
In the same period, over 15,200 illegal migrants were removed by force, a 45 per cent increase from what the Conservative government achieved in the 19 months prior. As well as this, in line with increased powers granted to law enforcement in the Border Security, Asylum, and Immigration Act 2025, deportations of foreign national offenders, including murderers and rapists, have increased by 32 per cent, with over 8,700 deported since Starmer’s government came into power.
Despite these record-breaking figures, Mahmood has committed to further removals and deportations in order to restore law and order to Britain’s borders, stating that the government “must go further to remove those that have no right to be in this country.” Mahmood further vowed to “do whatever it takes to restore order and control.” As a result of this, the government will issue further visa sanctions if countries deemed to be safe refuse to take back illegal migrants or foreign nationals.
Further, new legislation is due to be introduced this year to prevent illegal migrants from using Article 8 of the ECHR to prevent their removal, creating a “one stop shop” to replace the broken appeals system, so that once an illegal migrant loses a single appeal, they will be forced to leave the country.
In response to these proposals, the Minister of State for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending, James Timpson, stated that the Government is “serious about fixing the broken prison system”, committing to “stopping foreign criminals from clogging up our jails.” As well as this, Timpson stated that removals of foreign offenders from British prisons are “up more than forty per cent”, and that the new legislation would only increase the speed of intervention.
The Sentencing Act will amend the law so that foreign nationals no longer need spend a minimum portion of their sentence in British prisons, instead allowing for immediate deportation. This will also apply to those already in custody once it is in force.
The Home Office has stated the purpose of these changes are to remove incentives for migrants to come to the UK illegally, in order to secure Britain’s borders. Prior to new legislation, illegal migrants and foreign criminals have utilised Article 8 of the ECHR, which preserves the “right to respect for his private and family life” to prevent removal, a practice which the Government is keen to end.
In regards to appeals, the Government has pledged that a single route of appeal will be introduced, whilst cases deemed to have very little chance of success will be fast-tracked to expedite the removal process. If the appeal is lost, the individual will be expected to immediately leave the country, and if they do not, they shall be forcibly removed.
In order to improve value for the taxpayer, asylum costs will be scaled back, beginning this week, as migrants living in hotels shall be banned from using expensive taxis for medical appointments. Already over £74 million has been recouped from wasteful hotel contracts, as just under 200 migrant hotels remain open, whereas under the Conservative Party, 400 hotels running at the cost of £9 million a day were in use.
In addition, the Government has committed to housing people in more basic accommodation such as military sites, instead of hotels, to further deter migrants from illegally coming to Britain. It is hoped that reforming the system will disrupt organised immigration crime, prevent human trafficking gangs, and tackle illegal working.
The Home Office has reported that 2025 was the highest year on record for illegal working enforcement activity, after 9,000 arrests and 12,800 raids were carried out across the UK, which is a 60 per cent and 58 per cent rise respectively from 2024. This week, new measures took force to criminalise online posts advertising small boat crossing services and ban foreign sex offenders from refugee protections on account of their crimes, to protect British citizens. Legislation brought into force this week shall now enable enforcement to tackle criminal gangs selling fake immigration documents or help crossing the channel, through the classification of these actions as criminal offences.
Over the last 19 months, the Government have utilised the Borders Security, Immigration and Asylum Act to cut the number of people waiting on initial decisions for asylum claims by 39 per cent, to enable border security to be tightened and taxes to be allocated to improving the lives of taxpayers, rather than funding expensive migrants hotels. However, enforced removals have significantly increased as compared to voluntary removals, the former up 45 per cent as compared to 27 per cent, indicating that the Government still have a long way to go with implementing genuine reform.
Featured Image: James Whatling/Parsons Media for the Home Office
