How many illegal immigrants have been “removed” by the government?Published at 15:40 GMT
Nicholas Barrett
BBC verification researcher
The team also monitors PMQ on a weekly basis to track claims made in the Commons. Today, Sir Keir Starmer said while discussing illegal immigration that the Government had “already removed nearly 60,000 people who have no right to be here”.
He was referring to last week’s Home Office figures., external This means there have been a total of 58,539 ‘returns’ since Labor won the general election.
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The Home Office uses the term ‘returnee’ to refer to people who leave the UK without the right to live or work in the UK. This can occur for a variety of reasons, including a visa expiration, an asylum application being rejected, or a criminal conviction leading to deportation.
However, not all of these people were “eliminated.” These figures include people leaving the UK on their own, in some cases with financial support from the government, and some may be eligible for up to £3,000 in resettlement costs. Some people who voluntarily retire do so without the Home Office knowing at the time.
The latest figures show that 43,000 people who the government claims were forcibly removed have left the UK voluntarily after being told they were illegally present. Only 15,200 people were forcibly removed. The number of returns also decreased in January, mainly due to a decrease in voluntary returns.
