It has been revealed that nearly 100,000 asylum seekers have been ‘lost’ by immigration officials.
The 98,000 cases were found after clearing a backlog of immigration papers. The backlog began in 2006 where almost half a million cases were found in abandoned boxes at the Home Office.
Jonathan Sedgwick, the acting chief executive of the UK Border Agency, has admitted that in 98,000 cases they had not been able to track down the applicant.
Those cases have now been placed in a ‘controlled archive’ after officials failed to find the applicants.
172,000 migrants have been given the right to stay in the UK, many, simply because they have been in the country for so long or have relationships and children in the UK. Due to Article 8 of the Human Rights Act these migrant are granted an instant right to live and work in the UK.
Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migrationwatch, said: ‘Now we have it. Nearly half a million case files left lying around in a warehouse for years on end.
‘This must be one of the most shameful episodes in the history of the Home Office, not to speak of the immense cost to the taxpayer.’
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