Nearly 20,000 Foreign Criminals Remain in Britain as Deportation Backlog Reaches Record High

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced a sweeping reform of the UK's deportation system, confirming that nearly 20,000 foreign offenders are currently living in Britain while trapped in a stalling legal backlog.

The Home Secretary's announcement, due to be codified in the upcoming Immigration and Asylum Bill, addresses what government insiders describe as a 'clogged' tribunal system that has allowed foreign nationals convicted of serious offences, including robbery, arson, and domestic abuse, to remain in the country.

The figure of 20,000, recorded in March 2026, represents a sharp increase from the 8,500 offenders reported in 2020 and 5,895 in 2016. Despite the Home Office reporting the highest volume of deportations and returns in a decade, the accumulation of appeals has created a significant hurdle for law enforcement.

Alarmingly, a survey of deportation appeals made by criminals in the past 18 months found 'sex offenders, robbers, fraudsters, arsonists and domestic abusers' were granted the right to remain in the country. They are currently living free in communities, where many have put down roots and started families–making it even more difficult to dislodge them.

To speed up the deportation process, Mahmood has presented a set of proposals, including limiting eligibility for certain human rights appeals and reforming the current immigration appeals tribunal.

Human Rights Appeals Favour Criminals

The offenders were able to appeal their deportation thanks to the current two-tiered tribunal system. An analysis of 3,000 upper immigration tribunal decisions counted 369 cases involving individuals who committed offences in the UK. Of these 369, 340 appealed their deportation on the grounds of human rights breaches.

In particular, they appealed to Articles 3 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), about the right to family life, and the right to freedom from unjust persecution in their home country, respectively. Of the 340 appeals, 149, or 44%, were won.

Independent Immigration Appeals Authority

Mahmood has announced a number of solutions to the immigration problem, to be laid out this week in the Immigration and Asylum Bill. These include replacing immigration judges with an Independent Immigration Appeals Authority composed of 'professionally trained and independently appointed' individuals, who will prioritise public interest. The new body is set to hear appeals in 2027.

Labour will also impose new restrictions on Article 8, limiting eligible claims to immediate family and preventing appeals based on 'dubious' connections. 'Our new appeals body will ensure claims are heard swiftly and fairly,' said Mahmood. 'Those with a legitimate claim will get their hearing. Those who have no right to remain in this country, and are abusing the system, will be swiftly removed.'

On the ground, two immigration centres have also been expanded. The number of beds at Campsfield immigration removal centre has increased from 160 to 400, while those at Haslar, which is still being refurbished, will increase from 130 to 600. Mahmood has also allocated more resources to Immigration Enforcement, doubling their funding from £681 million in 2023-24 to £1.33 billion in 2028-29, and increasing their staff from 4,500 to 7,300.

Andy Burnham For Speeding Up Deportation

Andy Burnham, who is tipped to be the next Labour Party head, has expressed support for speeding up deportation, saying earlier this month: 'We need to make greater use of detention so that people who have got no basis for a claim are not actually admitted into the country.'

He also criticised the Home Office prior to the announced reforms, saying, 'Local authorities are often just not consulted at all. The Home Office just does what it wants.'

The Tories, however, believe the proposed efforts will not be enough. At last year's rate of 9,000 enforced removals, shadow home secretary Chris Philp said it would take 50 years to go through 400,000 illegal migrants in Britain. 'Tweaking Article 8 and building more detention capacity alone will make no real difference,' he said.

With approximately 400,000 illegal migrants in Britain, the opposition maintains that existing deportation rates, even if increased, remain too slow to address the structural size of the backlog. As the Immigration and Asylum Bill moves toward parliamentary debate, the government faces mounting pressure to demonstrate that these reforms will provide the definitive resolution to a problem that has persisted across successive administrations.