25 ILLEGALS SEIZED HERE EVERY DAY

And experts warn this is just the tip of the iceberg as most simply disappear

THE crisis engulfing Britain’s porous borders was laid bare yesterday after it emerged that more than 27,000 illegal immigrants have been arrested here in just three years.

But last night, MPs and border chiefs warned that the figures were just the tip of the iceberg – failing to account for those who ‘simply disappear’.

The data, from 39 police forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, revealed a total of 27,800 were held between January 2013 to April this year. That is the equivalent of 25 illegal migrants arrested in Britain daily.

Many of those arrested were discovered at motorway service stations and truck stops. A total of 7,700 were arrested in 2013, compared to 9,600 last year – a rise of 25 per cent.

The figures, obtained by the BBC, do not include those arrested at ports or airports – or people whose visas had expired.

Separate figures yesterday also revealed that UK Border Force guards operating in Europe have caught 145,000 migrants trying to slip into Britain. They were caught at ‘juxtaposed controls’ – effectively Britain’s border on foreign soil.

The scale of the arrests triggered warnings that UK’s border security was ‘even worse’ than previously thought. A former UK Border Agency head has claimed as many as one million foreigners may be living unlawfully in the UK. Meanwhile MPs and border chiefs warn that the arrest figures only scratch the surface.

Chris Hobbs, a former Scotland Yard border control officer, said: ‘Obviously these people are still getting through. And these are the ones that are being detected. What about the ones who are getting through undetected, who simply disappear?’

And Tory MP Charlie Elphicke, who represents Dover, added: ‘There must be concerns that this is just the tip of the iceberg. These shocking figures underline the need to take urgent action to make our borders secure.’

The figures emerged as Home Secretary Amber Rudd dismissed threats from the French to ditch UK border checks at Calais. Top French opposition politicians sparked outrage at the weekend by suggesting letting migrants lodge UK asylum claims in Calais – prompting a furious Miss Rudd to call the plan a ‘non-starter’.

But in their first meeting, the Home Secretary and her French counterpart Bernard Cazeneuve pledged to bolster border security.

In a joint statement, they said: ‘We are committed to working together to strengthen the security of our shared border.’ More than 9,000 migrants are living in a makeshift camp in Calais known as the ‘Jungle’, using it as a springboard for illegal UK entry.

The arrest figures, obtained by the BBC using freedom of information laws, expose the impact of the refugee crisis. Last month a report revealed the number of illegal immigrants caught hidden in trucks, cars and trains has almost trebled in a year – with 6,429 found in the UK between April and September 2015.

But Downing Street risked accusations of complacency by insisting measures to prevent illegal immigration were already proving ‘effective’.

Keith Vaz, Labour chairman of the Commons’ Home Affairs Select Committee, said the figures were at odds with the Government’s claim that it had ‘water-tight security’.

He said: ‘If 27,000 people have been arrested for entering the country illegally by our police forces, then it shows that this problem is even worse than we had anticipated and we expect urgent action to be taken.’

A Downing Street spokesman said: ‘I think the arrangements we have in place are proving to be effective, but we are not complacent about border security or border control.’

The Home Office said it would remove anyone found to have no right to remain in the UK. A spokesman said it was ‘committed to finding longterm solutions to the problem of illegal migration, which is why we created the Organised Immigration Crime Taskforce last year’.

Earlier this month it was revealed that a third of asylum applications were made by immigrants already in Britain illegally. Instead of fleeing conflict and persecution, they unlawfully sneaked into the country by stowing away in vehicles or overstayed visas.

Between 2004 and 2014, some 36 per cent of bids for asylum were by migrants who were caught by immigration officers.

Statistics published in Parliamentary answers revealed a total of 83,912 out of 231,000 main asylum applications were people ‘ encountered by local immigration and enforcement staff’. Genuine refugees are supposed to claim asylum as soon as they set foot in a safe country.

Comment – Page 14

‘We need to make borders secure’