UK Says More Than 17,000 Asylum Seekers Missing
The United Kingdom(UK) claims that over 17,000 asylum seekers are missing. Home Office officials have admitted they do not know the whereabouts of more than 17,000 asylum seekers whose claims have been discontinued.
The number emerged as MPs discussed Rishi Sunak’s target to eliminate the asylum backlog by the end of the year.
The home office has withdrawn thousands of asylum applications after claimants failed to respond.
A senior official told the Home Affairs Select Committee that claims are withdrawn if asylum seekers fail to respond to two successive caseworker interview requests or questionnaires
Since December last year, this has happened 17,316 times.
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In 2021, 2,141 applications were refused or withdrawn, although 24,403 were refused or withdrawn in 2004.
Figures published last week put the number of cases in the so-called “legacy backlog” at 39,668 as of the end of September.
There are questions about how much the government has already paid Rwanda after MPs were told it would be months before they would learn whether it was more than the £140m previously disclosed.
Sir Matthew hinted more could be paid, but would not say if any additional payments had since been made, instead saying ministers had decided not to reveal that information until the summer.
Committee chairwoman Labour MP Dame Diana Johnson said this response made it “quite hard to effectively scrutinize the flagship policy of the Home Office, and how much is being spent on it when we’re only getting the figures at the end of the year.”
