Asylum smuggling racket costs £1bn

ASYLUM seekers smuggled into Britain cost the taxpayer £1billion a year, the Home Office revealed yesterday.

David Davis has been quick to criticise David Davis has been quick to criticise

Criminal gangs were last night accused of helping seven in 10 asylum applicants to slip past our borders to put in claims.

The influx is piling huge costs on a raft of services, from processing claims and legal aid to health care and education.

A further £326million of public funds is also having to be spent each year to secure borders and to enforce removals.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                             "It's NOT racist to put hard-working Britons first."

                        CLICK HERE NOW TO READ PATRICK O'FLYNN'S BLOG

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The damning Home Office report revealed the true impact of the flood of asylum claims under Labour, which is also raking in more than £250million a year for the criminals.

Migrationwatch UK chairman Sir Andrew Green said: “This is clear evidence of the huge cost to the taxpayer of the widespread abuse of the asylum system. Until those who are found to be false claimants have every reason to believe they will be sent back as soon as their claims fail, this disgraceful situation will continue.”

Researchers for the Home Office estimated that 70 per cent of asylum seekers are smuggled into Britain by organised crime gangs.

Using 2003 as a snapshot year, they calculated that some 42,000 people were trafficked into Britain and then went on to submit asylum claims.

The report estimated that over 12 months they would have cost the taxpayer £1.025billion.

That includes £700million in housing and subsistence under the National Asylum Support Service.

A further £17million is paid out in health care and £37million in providing education for asylum seekers under 18 or dependents aged five to 17 – at a unit cost of £4,000 per place per year. The annual cost of processing the asylum claims of the smuggled applicants runs to £79million.

There is then a further £64million for handling appeals and £129million for legal aid.

It is not known how many of the asylum seekers would have been granted refuge but official estimates suggest that more than two-thirds of applications prove unfounded.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “The Government should have put more money into securing our borders to reduce the overall tax burden.”

The report estimated that crime gangs smuggled 55,642 people into Britain in 2003. Crooks were paid anything from £1,000 to £18,000 to bring in one person, with the majority (22,813) coming from Africa. Officials say that such trafficking is worth more than £250million a year for the gangs.

Separate statistics this week plunged Home Secretary John Reid into a fresh asylum shambles after they revealed that the level of removals had plummeted by a third in a year.

The number of failed asylum seekers being returned home is now at its lowest for five years, despite the fact that hundreds of thousands are still here.

In February, the Daily Express told how taxpayers are having to fund more than £400,000 every day to support failed asylum seeker families who should have been kicked out of this country.

Under its own law, the Government has agreed to support any failed asylum applicants who have children with them while they are in Britain.

But delays in removals have left the public with an annual bill of £150million – with failed applicants being paid more each year than some working British families.

Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: “This blows a hole in the Government’s bogus claims that crime levels are falling.”

What do YOU think? Is the government's relaxed attitude to asylum seekers putting your safety at risk? Comment NOW on Have Your Say.

Would you like to receive news notifications from Daily Express?