Government paying millions to help migrants leave UK
The UK has paid migrants £53 million over the past four years to leave the country under a voluntary return scheme, offering up to £3,000 and paid flights to those returning to their home countries.
Assisted returns have increased, with 6,799 people returning in 2024 compared to 2,179 in 2022; between 2021 and 2024, 13,637 people have participated in the scheme.
In 2024, over half of the foreign nationals accepting assisted returns were from Brazil (3,573), followed by India (915) and Honduras (271).
The Home Office argues the voluntary return scheme is more cost-effective than funding accommodation and support for those awaiting deportation, while Asylum Matters calls for bespoke support for migrants, including independent advice.
The Home Office reported that nearly 30,000 failed asylum seekers, foreign criminals and other immigration offenders with no right to be in the UK have been returned, a 12 per cent increase compared to the same period 12 months ago.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
35 minutes ago
- The Independent
National Guard troops arrive in Los Angeles on Trump's orders to quell immigration protests
National Guard troops began arriving in Los Angeles early Sunday on orders from President Donald Trump in response to clashes in recent days between federal immigration authorities and protesters seeking to block them from carrying out deportations. Members of California's National Guard were seen staging early Sunday at the federal complex in downtown Los Angeles that includes the Metropolitan Detention Center, one of several sites that have seen confrontations involving hundreds of people in last two days. The troops included members of the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, according to a social media post from the Department of Defense that showed dozens of National Guard members with long guns and an armored vehicle. Trump has said he is deploying 2,000 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles to quell the protests, which he called 'a form of rebellion.' Early Sunday, the deployment was limited to a small area in downtown Los Angeles. The protests have been relatively small and limited to a downtown section. The rest of the city of 4 million people is largely unaffected. Their arrival follows clashes near a Home Depot in the heavily Latino city of Paramount, south of Los Angeles. As protesters sought to block Border Patrol vehicles, with some hurling rocks and chunks of cement, federal agents unleashed tear gas, flash-bang explosives and pepper balls. Tensions were high after a series of sweeps by immigration authorities the previous day, as the weeklong tally of immigrant arrests in the city climbed past 100. A prominent union leader was arrested while protesting and accused of impeding law enforcement. On Sunday morning, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the National Guard would 'keep peace and allow people to be able to protest but also to keep law and order.' In a signal of the administration's aggressive approach, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also threatened to deploy active-duty Marines 'if violence continues' in the region. The move came over the objections of Gov. Gavin Newsome, marking the first time in decades that a state's national guard was activated without a request from its governor, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Newsom, a Democrat, said Trump's decision to call in the National Guard was 'purposefully inflammatory." He described Hegseth's threat to deploy Marines on American soil as 'deranged behavior.' Trump's order came after clashes in Paramount and neighboring Compton, where a car was set on fire. Protests continued into the evening in Paramount, with several hundred demonstrators gathered near a doughnut shop, and authorities holding up barbed wire to keep the crowd back. Crowds also gathered again outside federal buildings in downtown Los Angeles, including a detention center, where local police declared an unlawful assembly and began to arrest people.
BreakingNews.ie
38 minutes ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Badenoch says organisations should be able to decide if staff can wear burkas
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said employers should be able to decide if their staff can wear burkas in the workplace. Mrs Badenoch also said people who come to her constituency surgeries must remove their face coverings 'whether it's a burka or a balaclava'. Advertisement Ms Badenoch posted a video on X of part of her interview with the Telegraph, in which she said: 'My view is that people should be allowed to wear whatever they want, not what their husband is asking them to wear or what their community says that they should wear. 'I personally have strong views about face coverings. 'If you come into my constituency surgery, you have to remove your face covering, whether it's a burka or a balaclava. 'I'm not talking to people who are not going to show me their face. Advertisement 'Organisations should be able to decide what their staff wear for instance, it shouldn't be something that people should be able to override.' She added that France has a ban and has 'worse problems than we do in this country on integration'. On Wednesday, Reform's newest MP Sarah Pochin asked Sir Keir Starmer during Prime Minister's Questions whether he would support such a ban. Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice said his party has 'triggered a national discussion'. Advertisement Asked if he wants to ban burkas, Mr Tice told GB News on Sunday: 'We've triggered a national discussion. I'm very concerned about them (burkas). 'Frankly, I think they are repressive. I think that they make women second-class citizens. 'We're a Christian nation. We have equality between the sexes, and I'm very concerned, and if someone wants to convince me otherwise, well come and talk to me. 'But at the moment, my view is that I think we should follow seven other nations across Europe that have already banned them.' Advertisement He called for a debate on the topic to 'hear where the country's mood is'. Meanwhile, shadow home secretary Chris Philp said 'employers should be allowed to decide whether their employees can be visible or not', when discussing face coverings. Asked on the BBC's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme if the Conservative Party's position is not to speak to people who cover their face, Mr Philp said of Mrs Badenoch: 'Well she was talking specifically about her constituency surgery I think, and it is definitely the case that employers should be allowed to decide whether their employees can be visible or not. 'But I don't think this is necessarily the biggest issue facing our country right now. Advertisement 'There's a legitimate debate to have about the burka. 'You've got, obviously, arguments about personal liberty and choice and freedom on one side, and arguments about causing divisions in society and the possibility of coercion on the other. 'That is a debate I think we as a country should be having, but as Kemi said, it's probably not the biggest issue our nation faces today.' Asked if he would talk to people who would not show their face, the Croydon South MP said: 'I have in the past spoken to people obviously wearing a burka – I represent a London constituency – but everybody can make their own choices, that's the point she was making, each employer should be able to make their own choices.'
BreakingNews.ie
an hour ago
- BreakingNews.ie
National Guard arrives in LA on Trump's orders to quell immigration protests
US National Guard troops have begun arriving in Los Angeles on orders from President Donald Trump, to stamp out protests that have broken out in recent days against federal immigration authorities seeking to carry out deportations in the region. The members of California's National Guard were seen mobilising on Sunday at the federal complex in central Los Angeles that includes the Metropolitan Detention Centre, where confrontations have been taking place over the the last two days. Advertisement Confrontations broke out on Saturday near a Home Depot in the heavily Latino city of Paramount, south of Los Angeles, where federal agents were preparing at a Department of Homeland Security office nearby. Agents unleashed tear gas, flash-bang explosives and pepper balls, and protesters hurled rocks and cement at Border Patrol vehicles. Smoke wafted from small piles of burning refuse in the streets. Tensions were high after a series of sweeps by immigration authorities the previous day, including in LA's fashion district and at a Home Depot, as the week-long tally of immigrant arrests in the city climbed past 100. A prominent union leader was arrested while protesting and accused of impeding law enforcement. Despite objections from California governor Gavin Newsom, the White House announced Mr Trump would deploy the Guard to 'address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester'. Advertisement Mr Newsom, a Democrat, said in a post on the social platform X the move is 'purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions'. He later said the federal government wants a spectacle and urged people not to give them one by becoming violent. Law enforcement in riot gear during a protest in Compton, California (Ethan Swope/AP) In a signal of the administration's aggressive approach, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth threatened to deploy the US military. 'If violence continues, active-duty Marines at Camp Pendleton will also be mobilized – they are on high alert,' Mr Hegseth said on X. Mr Trump's order came after clashes in Paramount and neighbouring Compton, where a car was set on fire. Protests continued into the evening in Paramount, with several hundred demonstrators gathered near a doughnut shop, and authorities holding up barbed wire to keep the crowd back. Advertisement Crowds also gathered again outside federal buildings in central Los Angeles, including a detention centre, where local police declared an unlawful assembly and began to arrest people. Police detain a man during a protest in Paramount (Eric Thayer/AP) Earlier in Paramount, immigration officers faced off with demonstrators at the entrance to a business park, across from the back of a Home Depot. They set off fireworks and pulled shopping carts into the street, broke up cinder blocks and pelted a procession of Border Patrol vans as they departed and careened down a boulevard. US attorney Bill Essayli said federal agents made more arrests of people with deportation orders on Saturday, but none were at the Home Depot. The Department of Homeland Security has a building next door and agents were staging there as they prepared to carry out operations, he said on Fox11 Los Angeles. He did not say how many people were arrested Saturday or where. Paramount mayor Peggy Lemons told multiple news outlets that community members showed up in response because people are fearful about activity by immigration agents. Advertisement 'When you handle things the way that this appears to be handled, it's not a surprise that chaos would follow,' she said. Some demonstrators jeered at officers while recording the events on smartphones. 'ICE out of Paramount. We see you for what you are,' a woman said through a megaphone. 'You are not welcome here.' A protester throws a rock while surrounded by tear gas from law enforcement during a demonstration in Paramount on Saturday (Eric Thayer/AP) More than a dozen people were arrested and accused of impeding immigration agents, Mr Essayli posted on X, including the names and mugshots of some of those arrested. He did not say where they were protesting. Advertisement Mr Trump federalised part of California's National Guard under what is known as Title 10 authority, which places him, not the governor, top of the chain of command, according to Mr Newsom's office. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement the work the immigration authorities were doing when met with protests is 'essential to halting and reversing the invasion of illegal criminals into the United States'. She added: 'In the wake of this violence, California's feckless Democrat leaders have completely abdicated their responsibility to protect their citizens.' The president's move came shortly after he issued a threat on his social media network saying that if Mr Newsom and Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass did not 'do their jobs', then 'the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!' Mr Newsom said in his statement that local authorities 'are able to access law enforcement assistance at a moment's notice', and that 'there is currently no unmet need'. The California Highway Patrol said Mr Newsom had directed it to deploy additional officers to 'maintain public safety'. Ms Bass said: 'We certainly want to make the opportunities available for people to exercise their First Amendment rights, but the minute that things turn to violence… that is not acceptable and people are going to be held accountable.'
