Around 20,000 foreign offenders are living in British communities despite being subject to deportation orders, exposing the scale of Britain’s failure to remove foreign criminals.
Figures for June 2025, and only recently published, show particularly low numbers of returns for several nationalities, with hundreds of offenders remaining in the country.
There were 773 Nigerian offenders awaiting deportation, while just 37 Nigerians were returned in the preceding 12 months. For Algeria, 569 offenders were living in the community, compared with a reported removal rate of just 4.2%.
Meanwhile, 775 Jamaican offenders were subject to enforcement action but remained at liberty, with only 24 deported over the same period.
These figures raise serious questions about the authorities’ ability to enforce deportation decisions and protect the public.
The Home Office defended its record, saying nearly 12,000 foreign criminals had been returned or deported in the two years since the election. But this is simply not good enough.
Thousands of dangerous foreign nationals remain in this country, while plans to strengthen deportation powers face resistance from Brussels as part of negotiations over Labour’s Brexit “reset” agenda.
Reform UK will tackle this problem through its Keeping Criminals Behind Bars policy, launched in August by leader Nigel Farage and Reform UK Shadow Home Secretary Zia Yusuf.
This would involve transferring foreign prisoners abroad to serve their sentences, either in their home countries or in rented prison spaces in third countries, including Kosovo and El Salvador. Removing foreign prisoners would free approximately 10,000 places in British jails.
On top of that, a Reform government will build “Nightingale prisons” on Ministry of Defence land, creating a further 12,000 places and giving Britain the capacity it needs to keep dangerous offenders behind bars.
Launching the policy, Yusuf pledged that “killers, rapists and violent thugs will never be released a day early”.
Figures for June 2025, and only recently published, show particularly low numbers of returns for several nationalities, with hundreds of offenders remaining in the country.
There were 773 Nigerian offenders awaiting deportation, while just 37 Nigerians were returned in the preceding 12 months. For Algeria, 569 offenders were living in the community, compared with a reported removal rate of just 4.2%.
Meanwhile, 775 Jamaican offenders were subject to enforcement action but remained at liberty, with only 24 deported over the same period.
These figures raise serious questions about the authorities’ ability to enforce deportation decisions and protect the public.
The Home Office defended its record, saying nearly 12,000 foreign criminals had been returned or deported in the two years since the election. But this is simply not good enough.
Thousands of dangerous foreign nationals remain in this country, while plans to strengthen deportation powers face resistance from Brussels as part of negotiations over Labour’s Brexit “reset” agenda.
Reform UK will tackle this problem through its Keeping Criminals Behind Bars policy, launched in August by leader Nigel Farage and Reform UK Shadow Home Secretary Zia Yusuf.
This would involve transferring foreign prisoners abroad to serve their sentences, either in their home countries or in rented prison spaces in third countries, including Kosovo and El Salvador. Removing foreign prisoners would free approximately 10,000 places in British jails.
On top of that, a Reform government will build “Nightingale prisons” on Ministry of Defence land, creating a further 12,000 places and giving Britain the capacity it needs to keep dangerous offenders behind bars.
Launching the policy, Yusuf pledged that “killers, rapists and violent thugs will never be released a day early”.
Photo by: Engin Akyurt.
