UK immigration pays out millions to compensate illegal immigrants
February 12 2010 by Liam Clifford
Some £2 million has been paid out in compensation to immigrants who moved to the UK, legally and illegally, who were detailed unlawfully.
The payments averaging £16,000 each were made to 121
individuals, some of whom had already been ordered to return home before they
were detailed. In these cases, immigrants were detained because they were not
able to travel for some reasons.
Compensation was also paid out in cases
where people were detailed before later being told they were able to stay living
in the UK and were given UK visas.
Phil Woolas, the UK immigration minister, said the number of cases that result in compensation being paid is a
“fraction” of the number of cases the department deals with.
There has
recently been increased pressure on the UK immigration department to stop
detaining people, especially children.
Lisa Nandy from The Children’s
Society says the compensation figures show that detention is not only damaging
to the detainees but is also wasteful of taxpayers money. She explained, "we do
not need to detain children. It is a waste of time and money. Other countries do
not detain children and they still manage to operate an effective immigration
system.”
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