More than 100,000 failed asylum seekers are feared to be living in Britain illegally because they haven’t been deported, the Express can reveal. Some 2,000 people who first sought sanctuary in 2010 are still in the UK. And more than 26,000 have been here for at least a decade despite losing their cases, according to Home Office figures.
Labour’s Deportation Crisis
In total, 108,022 people refused protection after claiming asylum between 2010 and 2024 have not been removed. The staggering total, revealed in official records, takes into account all of the failed asylum seekers who applied for sanctuary between 2010 and 2024. This includes people who appealed their initial claim after it was rejected but lost.
A large proportion of this cohort have been rejected in 2023 and 2024, figures show. The Home Office has said the figures uncovered by the Express are “misleading”. But officials conceded this is because they don’t know how many have left the country voluntarily.
Political Reaction
Reform’s Zia Yusuf blasted “decades of complacency from the political establishment”, while Conservative Chris Philp said it makes a “mockery of immigration law”. Mr Philp vowed the Conservatives will withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights on “day one” if Kemi Badenoch becomes prime minister.
The Shadow Home Secretary said: “This makes a mockery of immigration law when even failed asylum seekers – most of whom are illegal immigrants – get to stay. They all need to be kicked out immediately. If Shabana Mahmood was at all serious, then she will act now. To make the removal of illegal immigrants easier, we need to leave the ECHR and exit the Modern Slavery treaty – which the next Conservative government will do on day one.”
He added: “Failed asylum seekers are sometimes still accommodated at taxpayers’ expense – contributing to the £4bn annual asylum bill. Illegal immigrants are also generally low skilled, or have no skills, so they do not make a net economic contribution once housing costs are accounted for.”
Analysis of the Backlog
Analysis by the Express and the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford revealed the sheer scale of Labour’s growing deportation backlog. One in four people who first claimed asylum in 2010 still hadn’t been returned by March 2026. Home Office records show 7,753 were refused refuge. But only 5,588 have been removed.
The percentage of people being removed began to fall in 2012, hitting a low in 2018. Some 67% - 6,124 – of failed asylum seekers were returned in 2012. This dropped to 33% in 2018 – 2,328. Some 26,850 failed asylum seekers who first claimed asylum between 2010 and 2016 haven’t been returned, according to analysis compiled by academics at the University of Oxford. This increases to 43,914 when 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 are included.
The Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford said: “Of all asylum applications submitted between 2010 and 2022 which had been refused by the end of 2025, around half had resulted in a return from the UK by this date. The share of asylum seekers denied protection and subsequently returned also varies widely by nationality. Some nationalities, such as Albanians and Brazilians, have a relatively high likelihood of being returned after a failed application. For others, the number of asylum returns has remained low despite a high number of refusals in recent years. This includes citizens of Iran, Iraq, and Turkey.”
Challenges in Deportation
Immigration experts have warned that delays in deporting migrants quickly effectively strengthens their legal bids to avoid removals. This is because migrants could fall in love or have children, strengthening their claims under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights – the right to a family life.
Britain’s asylum crisis in recent years has led to a burgeoning deportation backlog. Of the 82,368 claims in 2024, 34,856 people have been refused, once appeals were taken into consideration. But only 4,304 have been removed. Officials have been overwhelmed by the small boats fiasco and an explosion in people making claims after arriving on a work, study or visitor visa.
An alarming 38,980 people applied after crossing the Channel on a dinghy, while 36,711 claimed refuge after arriving on a study, work or visitor visa in the year to March. Of this group, 10,835 held a study visa, 13,994 arrived on a work visa, 7,048 used a visitor visa and 4,834 held other forms of leave.
One in 10 asylum seekers was from Pakistan, with 9,438 in total. Most sought protection after arriving on a visa. Eritreans, Afghans, Iranians, Sudanese and Somalis have accounted for the biggest cohorts of small boat migrants so far this year.
Calls for Action
Mr Yusuf told the Express: “It is outrageous that only around half of those whose claims have been rejected have actually been removed thanks to decades of complacency from the political establishment. Successive governments have allowed thousands of people with no legal right to be here to remain in the country. Reform UK would ensure they are swiftly detained and deported.”
Ms Mahmood has vowed to overhaul the asylum appeals system, effectively abolishing the lower tribunal. Migrants would have to file a single appeal and it would be considered by a “professionally trained adjudicator”. Officials believe that streamlining the appeals process will allow them to ramp up deportations.
But the Express has revealed how the Home Office is struggling to deport the vast majority of the biggest Channel migrant cohorts. A staggering 96,002 asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Eritrea have arrived in small boats between 2018 and 2025. But only 495 - 0.5% - have been sent back to these countries in seven years. Instead, they are amongst the biggest cohorts being returned to France under Keir Starmer’s one-in-one-out deal with Emmanuel Macron.
Just 2,750 small boat arrivals were removed in the year to March. And over half – 1,455 - of these were returns to Albania. Some 246 Turkish nationals were removed, along with 174 Iraqis, 128 Afghans, 117 Vietnamese arrivals, 93 Syrians, 92 Eritreans, 72 Indians, 64 Georgians and 63 Iranians.
Home Office Response
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The figures reported by the Express are misleading. Immigration enforcement activity is at the highest level on record - with the largest number of raids, arrests and removals ever. Nearly 70,000 illegal migrants and foreign criminals returned since this Government took office — up 41% on the 21-month period before. But we must go further with sweeping reforms to track down and remove more.”
Officials claimed the figures revealed by the Express are “based on people who have not been recorded as leaving the UK, not a confirmed count of those still in the country”. They added: “It does not account for individuals who may have left voluntarily without being recorded or those who have since gained permission to stay, meaning it should be treated as an estimate rather than a definitive total.”
