Migrants who are scheduled to board planes to be sent back to Rwanda are evading deportation by avoiding Home Office checks.
Near the end of February, the government announced that over 33,000 individuals were inadmissible due to their pending removal to Rwanda since they were on immigration bail. Last night, concerns that hundreds of migrants may have vanished in the first quarter of this year intensified.
According to figures obtained in response to a Freedom of Information request, between January 1 and March 31, 5,584 bailed migrants declined checks 56,243 times.
The figure from the Home Office Immigration Enforcement teams includes the total number of Albanians who managed to evade 16,028 of the frequent checks conducted by phone, online, or in person at police stations.
This indicates that almost 20% of the individuals scheduled to be sent to the East African nation by plane later this summer have violated their bail conditions and may have escaped.
A formal Home Office internal briefing paper last year warned of the possibility of migrants going missing if the capacity to trace people is outstripped by demand.
Additionally, it was mentioned that there might be a significant amount of time between people losing touch and attempts to find them. A smaller “footprint” is left behind by those who have spent less time in the UK.
The Home Office still hasn’t released the exact number of bailed migrants who are now free to roam the UK. The number has probably increased from 33,085 in February due to increased arrivals and a capacity shortage in secure deportation centers.
A 28-year-old Albanian immigrant who is ‘off the radar’ after barely escaping a Rwandan aircraft last summer is now terrified of being placed on another one.
A final decision by the European Court of Human Rights caused the Home Office to cancel the deportation aircraft that he and six others were about to board.
According to immigration court documents, he was denied refuge despite his claims of being a victim of modern slavery who escaped Albania to escape being coerced into a drug gang.
