Deportation orders climb but over half of them are not enforced

ALMOST 100 people every month were issued with deportation orders over the last year, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The new figures from the Department of Justice come in the week that Taoiseach Enda Kenny has promised to remonstrate with US president Donald Trump about his controversial immigration policy.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald revealed that 1,191 deportation orders were issued between March 2016 and March 2017 following questions from Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin.

537 removed, the rest could not be found

However, of that figure, just 537 people were deported, while the others could not be located.

The top five nationalities issued with deportation orders were Nigeria, China (including Hong Kong), Ghana and Brazil, while Albania and South Africa are joint fifth.

The State spent €698,814 deporting people over the last year. In some instances, gardaí accompanied deportees on flights out of the State.

There has also been a huge increase in the number of people refused entry at our borders over the last two years.

Almost 4,000 were refused entry to Ireland last year – nearly double the figure in 2012, when, 2,204 people were denied entry. In 2013, it was 1,935 and in 2014 it was 2,473.

But in 2015, the figure increased dramatically to 3,450 and in 2016 it rose again to 3,951.

The department said that some people were deported because they posed a threat to the security of the State, while others were simply illegal immigrants.

In her reply to Mr Martin, Ms Fitzgerald said: ‘Where persons have been identified as a threat to national security by An Garda Síochána, it remains open to me to make deportation orders against such persons and I have done so in the past and will continue to do so where appropriate.’

The International Protection Act 2015, which came into effect on December 31, 2016, increases the State’s power to enforce deportation orders, so we may well see the numbers expand in the coming years.

It gives authorities powers to arrest people who have been issued deportation orders without a warrant.

The department denied that there has been any official policy to crack down or toughen Ireland’s asylum system.

A spokesperson said: ‘A decision to deport a person is never taken lightly.

‘Only persons who are illegally present in the State fall within the scope to be considered for deportation.’

Figures revealed by a recent parliamentary question put to the department by Independent TD Thomas Pringle show that 37 of those refused entry were migrants from Syria. A further 178 of those sent away from Irish ports were from Afghanistan and 26 from Iraq.

Altogether 248 people from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, and the small African country of Eritrea were refused ‘leave to land’ in 2016. Of that number, 57 subsequently appealed for asylum and were allowed enter Ireland to apply for protection, while the others were sent back to where they had travelled from, mainly in Europe.

Justice Department figures show that 170 foreign nationals from Iraq, Syria, Libya, Iran and Eritrea were refused entry to Ireland in 2015.

However, Ms Fitzgerald stressed that an asylum seeker who may have fled persecution would not be returned to face danger.

‘A decision to deport is never taken lightly’