£100m a year to kick out illegal immigrants: Removing one person who has no valid passport or visa can cost £25,000

Worry: Introducing increased fines for airlines that allow illegal immigrants on to their planes, Immigration Minister Mark Harper admitted the number of people using the aircraft route was 'too high'

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

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Booting out migrants who arrive without a visa or valid passport may be costing up to £100million a year.

At least 4,000 foreigners enter the UK every 12 months despite having no right to be here.

Each costs as much as £25,000 to remove – putting the potential annual bill at £100million.

Officials admit however that the illegals are often allowed to stay. Many will claim asylum, or be impossible to remove because they do not have a passport and will not co-operate with investigators.Last night ministers warned that such individuals pose a significant risk to national security.

In many cases officials will have no idea who they are, where they are from or if they have a criminal or terrorist history.

Many are thought to come from countries it is difficult to return them to because of human rights issues, including Uganda, Afghanistan and Somalia.Details of the problem emerged as ministers launched a crackdown on undocumented migrants. Fines for airlines that allow them on to their planes will rise from £2,000 to up to £10,000 per migrant.

Immigration Minister Mark Harper admitted the numbers abusing the aircraft route was ‘too high’.

‘Border security is vital for the UK,’ he added. ‘While it is right that the Government is in the lead on this, carriers and the transport sector as a whole have an important role to play.‘The proposed changes to incentives and penalties are designed to ensure all passengers arriving in the UK have the correct documentation to get through our strict passport controls.

‘If a passenger arrives in the UK without a document which satisfactorily establishes their nationality or identity, they can pose a significant risk to the UK.’

The Home Office believes 4,100 migrants arrived on flights and ferries to the UK without proper documents in 2011.

Many carry counterfeit or forged passports that should be spotted when they try to board the plane. Others are allowed on to planes despite having expired documents.

Some flush their passports down the toilet during the flight to try to disguise their nationality and help them claim asylum.

Fines are levied in only around half of cases, and airlines may escape paying up if the passports are a very good forgery or if they have a proven record of carrying out effective checks.

The Home Office could not say how many of those who abuse this route into the UK are successfully removed from the country. Sir Andrew Green, chairman of the MigrationWatch think-tank, said: ‘It is high time these fines were increased. These are all going to become illegal immigrants.

No way home: Rashid Ali has cost taxpayers more than £300,000 since arriving from Morocco. He wants to return to his country but cannot as he does not have a passport

‘They will want to undercut the wages of British workers and allow unscrupulous employers to compete unfairly with honest ones who offer decent pay and conditions.’

In 2009 the National Audit Office estimated that every failed asylum seeker costs between £3,000 and £25,000 to remove.

At first, many arrivals will be locked up in immigration detention centres, but they cannot be held behind bars indefinitely, and the courts may demand they be let out on to the streets if there is no prospect of prompt removal.

Officials suggest that the current fine – which has remained the same since the early 1990s – is now less effective at encouraging airlines to combat the practice.

Had it simply been increased to keep pace with inflation, it would be £3,500 today.

France and Germany levy fines of around £4,300 (5,000 euros).

The consultation document suggests a £7,000 fine will be of a ‘sufficiently high level to encourage carriers to perform better document checks’. Offending airlines could face even higher penalties. The Home Office estimates a new penalty charge of £7,000 would raise £63million over ten years.

One illegal, Rashid Ali, has cost taxpayers more than £300,000 since arriving from Morocco.

The 31-year-old ripped up his passport and other identity papers on arriving in Britain in 2004.

Somerset magistrates issued a deportation order after he was convicted of theft but he was unable to leave because the Moroccan authorities would not issue him with a passport.

He has been caught repeatedly trying to leave Britain illegally stowed away on cargo ships.

He has spent much of his time in Britain in detention centres costing taxpayers more than £100 a night.

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