Data shows that around 5,000 migrants have slipped through the cracks in the last six years.
Migrants are going missing before their asylum claim has been processed. (Image: Getty)
Almost 1,000 migrants on average per year go missing before their asylum claim has been processed, a new investigation has found. Data shows that 4,838 migrants have absconded from the UK asylum system over the past six years, with 3,158 still unaccounted for as of January.
An investigation from The Sun gathered data, which covers the period January 2020 to December 2025, from the UK Immigration Enforcement’s live operational database via a Freedom of Information request. The figures include migrants who escaped from ports or immigration detention, as well as those on immigration bail who stopped complying with reporting requirements. Individuals are officially recorded as absconders after attempts to contact them have been exhausted. At that point, the Government cannot establish whether they remain undetected in Britain or have left the country.
Chris Philp, the Shadow Home Secretary, told The Sun: “The majority of asylum claims come from illegal immigrants. We have no idea who these people are when they enter our country illegally and we don’t even know where thousands of them are.
“Illegal immigration is putting the British public in danger. We must leave the ECHR and any other obligation that gets in the way so we can deport all illegal immigrants and foreign criminals.
“We must double the funding for Immigration Enforcement so they have the resources they need to track down and remove those with no right to be here. It is a shame Andy Burnham and Shabana Mahmood are too weak to do this.”
Chris Philp says illegal immigration is “putting the British public in danger”. (Image: Getty)
According to the Home Office, migrants who fail to comply with the asylum process face having their claim withdrawn. However, they are able to later resurface and make a fresh claim on human rights grounds
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Data shows that just over 80,000 people living illegally in the UK have been removed since Labour came to power in 2024. Around 20,000 were forced removals while roughly 60,000 left the UK under voluntary departures.
The government acknowledged in June that some asylum seekers had disappeared but insisted officials knew the whereabouts of the “vast majority”. Meanwhile, the Public Accounts Committee has said the system used to monitor migrants requires a “complete overhaul”.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Individuals who have no legal basis to remain in the UK should be deported and we are committed to making this happen.
Migrants who fail to comply with the asylum process face having their claim withdrawn. (Image: Getty)
“We have a dedicated tracing capability in the Home Office who work with the police and other enforcement agencies to trace those who abscond.
“The number of absconders is 70 per cent lower than the peak year under the previous government. But we must go further.
“The Home Secretary will double the Immigration Enforcement budget to support tens of thousands more raids, arrests and deportations of those here illegally.”