Deportation crisis as 20,000 foreign offenders remain free in UK despite removal orders

Around 20,000 foreign offenders are living freely in British communities despite being subject to deportation orders, new data has revealed.

The figures, published for June 2025 and the first of their kind, also show that removal rates for some nationalities are running as low as one in 20.

For countries including Nigeria and Algeria, barely 5 per cent of offenders awaiting removal can realistically expect to leave the UK.

Overall deportation numbers have risen sharply under Labour, from roughly 8,000 in 2020 under the Conservatives to 36,000 in 2025.

Yet foreign criminals represent fewer than 30 per cent of total removals from Britain.

Of the 773 Nigerian offenders awaiting deportation, just 37 were returned in the preceding 12 months, a rate of 4.8 per cent.

Algeria fared even worse, with 569 offenders residing in the community and a removal rate of only 4.2 per cent.

Jamaica's numbers showed that 775 offenders were subject to enforcement action yet remained at liberty, with merely 24 deported over the same period.

Bangladeshi criminals could expect a return rate of roughly 6 per cent.

Removals of European nationals were much more successful.

Romania alone saw 990 deportations in the year to June 2025, against 1,399 Romanian offenders living in the community.

That progress on EU deportations now faces a direct challenge from Brussels as European officials are demanding that ministers abandon plans to increase the number of EU criminals removed from Britain, positioning the concession as part of the price for a broader Brexit reset.

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The demand clashes with legislative changes introduced this year, under which the government intends to deport all foreign criminals receiving prison sentences exceeding 12 months, including those given suspended terms.

Official returns figures include offenders removed directly from prison as well as those deported from the community, meaning they are an approximation rather than a precise measure.

Some offenders living freely may also be subject to electronic tagging.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp condemned the government's record, telling the Times: "Only a tiny fraction of criminals from countries like Jamaica, Nigeria, Somalia, Algeria, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe or even India get returned."

He added: "Endless human rights claims and the absurd Labour belief that it is somehow racist to return criminals to Jamaica mean these dangerous men stay in the UK and have gone on to commit crimes like rape and murder here after they should have been deported for previous offences."

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has refused to rule out expanding deportations to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, despite opposition from humanitarian organisations.

Some 225 Afghans were sent back between 2025 and June 2026, marking a sharp increase.

Ms Mahmood also declared last month that all Eritrean nationals would be barred from entering Britain until a returns agreement covering criminals and irregular migrants was reached.

A Home Office spokesman said: "Any foreign national who receives a prison sentence in the UK is referred for deportation at the earliest opportunity and will be barred from ever returning.

"Returns are at their highest level in nearly a decade. Nearly 12,000 foreign criminals, including murderers and rapists, have been returned or deported in the two years since the last election– a 41 per cent increase on the two years prior."