Boat migrants feared left to go on the run
it comes to controlling blind lead the blind.”
The men, aged 18 to 44, were held on suspicion of entering the UK illegally after they were caught on a South Coast beach. Almost a month later no one has been able to confirm their location. They drifted ashore in Winchelsea, East Sussex, Home Secretary Amber Rudd’s constituency, after crossing the Channel from security the northern France where 20,000 UKbound migrants are now living rough.
Ukip leadership candidate Bill Etheridge said: “We have truck drivers in fear of their lives, people traffickers making a fortune out of human misery and what do we have combatting it? In the Home Secretary’s own constituency we have Border Force telling them to go on their merry way.
“What if these people aren’t just economic migrants looking for a job? What if they are terrorists? This lax attitude could cost innocent lives.”
The Daily Express asked whether the gang was in contact with immigration officials or had joined Britain’s underground population of 1.1 million working illegally for cash in hand.
The Home Office said it would not provide a “running commentary”, after Britain’s top immigration official said Britain was home to more than 10,000 asylum seekers who had disappeared from the system.
And three times as many failed asylum seekers are still here more than two years after all appeals against removal. In December David Bolt, Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, said: “Asylum casework managers told us there were approximately 10,000 asylum claims where the claimant and dependants were not in contact with the Home Office or had absconded.
“While teams could conduct residential visits to trace absconders they were reluctant to do so as this work was not a priority and was considered a drain on resources.”