And Labour is facing a growing deportations backlog as the number of foreign criminals living in Britain has soared past 20,000.
Andy Burnham is facing an asylum nightmare (Image: Getty)
Fewer than 10,000 small boat migrants have been removed from the UK since the crisis began eight years ago, staggering figures show. The Home Office removed just 3,310 arrivals in the year to June 2026, with a third of these sent back to Albania.
Analysis shows 9,694 migrants who arrived on dinghies have been deported between 2018 and the first half of 2026.
And Government records show almost 210,000 asylum seekers have crossed the Channel since people smugglers started launching boats in 2018.
This means less than 5% of people have been removed, despite tens of thousands having their asylum claims rejected and appeals refused.
Labour is also facing a growing deportations backlog, as the number of foreign criminals living in Britain has soared past 20,000. Some convicted crooks from overseas are roaming the streets despite being eligible for removal, and the number of failed asylum seekers living in taxpayer-funded accommodation has also continued to rise, prompting fears many will never be removed. Some 1,500 offenders from overseas have been given free homes because they cannot be deported.
Of these, 929 have had their asylum claims and appeals rejected, the Home Office has admitted.
This cohort – receiving Section 4 support, which refers to housing and financial assistance – accounts for almost one in five of all failed asylum seekers still being helped by taxpayers.
The Home Office is increasingly relying on sending “difficult” cases to France under Keir Starmer‘s one-in-one-out deal with Emmanuel Macron.
It has doubled from 10,373 in the final three months of 2020.
And Home Office figures – revealed by Freedom of Information requests submitted by the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford – show 929 foreign national offenders are receiving Section 4 support. This is housing and financial assistance given to failed asylum seekers whose claims for sanctuary have been refused and their appeals rejected.
Many countries refuse to take back their nationals. And human rights laws prevent the Home Office from booting out convicted criminals to countries such as Afghanistan, Sudan, Eritrea, Iran and Syria.