UK Border Agency struggling with backlog

The home affairs committee is calling for more to be done by the UK Border Agency to clear a backlog of failed migrants who should already have been removed from the country. The Home Office has reacted to the report that there are 275,000 people who should have been deported that it is aware of the issues and is already in the process of tackling the problem.

A spokesman told the group of MPs that more than 2,000 overstayers had been removed from the UK recently following a programme of targeted enforcement. He added that visa processing had also become much more efficient.

Chairman of the committee, Labour’s Keith Vaz, described the Border Agency as having its own Bermuda Triangle and pointed out that the backlog was now the equivalent of the population of Newcastle. He added that it was easy for people to get into the UK but appeared to be virtually impossible to get them out again.

Mr Vaz also attacked the agency for the bonuses it has paid out. He said that senior officials seemed to be receiving large amounts of money even though they were failing to meet performance targets. He went on to say that when the situation was looked into last year a request had been made that bonuses be frozen until the UKBA was judged fit for purpose.

Mr Vaz wants the payments to be handed back so that the agency can employ more case workers to work through the backlog and wants an investigation into why so many foreign criminals have dropped off the radar and not been deported.