Home Office has lost contact with thousands of potential Rwanda deportees, data shows

The Home Office is “used to” losing contact with asylum seekers, a UK government minister has said, after official figures suggested thousands of people it hoped to deport to Rwanda had stopped reporting.

The impact assessment on the Home Office’s website on Monday suggests the department is in contact with 38% of those it intends to remove to Rwanda.

“So the expectation is that we remove that group of people, as well as others, by the end of the year … We want the message to go out loud and clear that if somebody doesn’t report as they should do, they shouldn’t think that they will get away with it.

The shadow immigration minister, Stephen Kinnock, said the statistics exposed “the total lack of grip the Conservatives have over the asylum system and the chaos at the heart of their Rwanda policy.

“Labour has a plan to reverse the Tory collapse in removals with a 1,000 officer-strong returns and enforcement unit, and smash the criminal gangs responsible for the evil smuggling trade.”

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