UK NEWS

WATCHDOG BLASTS BORDER AGENCY CHAOS

Basic errors are being made in hundreds of immigration cases every year, says a report

Tuesday February 9,2010

By Macer Hall

BRITAIN’S immigration system is descending into chaos as a new backlog of applications piles up, a senior Parliamentary watchdog warned last night.

Basic errors are being made in hundreds of immigration cases every year, says a report. As a result, many immigrants are winning compensation of hundreds of pounds of taxpayers’ money.

And the failure to control borders effectively is leading to a damaging loss of public trust in the immigration system.

The damaging conclusions about the state of the UK Border Agency are outlined in a report from Parliamentary Ombudsman Ann Abraham.

Last night, the Tories said it demonstrated that the immigration system remained a total shambles under Gordon Brown.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said: “It’s time we had a properly controlled system that treats genuine applicants fairly, but takes tough action against those who break the rules.” The report warned that minister’s attempts to react to a series of immigration scandals had led to officials being diverted from other duties – allowing new backlogs of cases to pile up.

The Ombudsman had more than 1,300 complaints about the agency in under three years, of which 97 per cent were upheld.

In one case, a Jamaican man granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK in 1990 had to wait over three years for the agency to stamp his passport to confirm his right to stay. It is understood he won substantial compensation. UK Border Agency chief executive Lin Homer said: “The UK Border Agency is continuing to make progress in dealing with the legacy backlog of older asylum cases and has already concluded more than 235,000 cases.”

The Ombudsman’s report comes just a day after the Daily Express revealed that 1.3million immigrants had been given the right to work in the UK in the two years since Gordon Brown promised to provide “British jobs for British workers”.