The Home Office today released rarely seen images of migrants being deported to their home countries as it sought to project a tough stance on defending Britain’s borders.
Officials said they had carried out 5,074 enforced returns between July 5, 2024 and January 31, 2025 – an increase of nearly a quarter on the previous year. They said a total of 2,925 foreign national offenders have been removed.
Most returns are voluntary, with people who do not have permission to stay in Britain able to receive payments of up to £3,000 to help resettle abroad.
Officials said a total of 18,987 failed asylum seekers, foreign criminals and illegal migrants have been returned back to their home countries in total since the general election.
They said this represents the highest rate of returns seen in the UK since 2018 and include the four biggest returns charter flights in the UK’s history – carrying more than 850 people overall.
There have been 39 charter flights in total leaving for countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America.
The Home Office said this was the first time it had published images of its deportation flights. It came after ministers defended their decision to release footage of illegal migrants being arrested in dawn raids as ‘compassionate’ following criticism from left wingers.
The new administration of President Trump has regularly published photographs of migrants being deported in handcuffs.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: ‘To rebuild public confidence in the immigration system, we need to show the rules are respected and enforced.
‘That’s why, as part of the Government’s Plan for Change, we have put significant additional resource into immigration enforcement and returns, so those who have no right to be here, particularly those who have committed crimes in our country, are removed as swiftly as possible.
‘I want to pay tribute to all the Immigration Enforcement staff and other officials in the Home Office who strive tirelessly every day to make our returns system work firmly, fairly and swiftly.’
It comes hours after the Home Office boasted of a rise in the number of illegal migrants being arrested.
Some 3,930 arrests have been made across 5,424 visits by immigration enforcement officers since July 5 when Labour took power to January 31, in what is understood to be a 38 per cent increase compared to the previous 12-month period.
Home Office officials said 609 arrests of illegal workers were made last month, the highest since figures began being collected in 2019.
There were also 828 raids on workplaces suspected of illegally employing foreign staff in January, up from 556 in the same month last year and from 171 in January 2019.
The Government has begun releasing details of the raids in the wake of polls showing Labour would lose more seats to the Reform party than the Conservatives would.
The Red Wall group of around 40 Labour MPs has called on its ministers to send a stronger message on immigration to head off the electoral threat.
Officers from the Home Office’s Immigration Enforcement agency have uncovered migrants who arrived illegally across the Channel also working illegally, it was revealed.
Illegal workers can end up living in ‘squalid’ conditions and working ‘inhumane hours’ for ‘little or no pay’, Home Office sources said.
Gangs involved in people trafficking have been driving illegal migration by giving migrants ‘false promises’ about their ability to work here, they added.
Illegal workers can end up living in ‘squalid’ conditions and working ‘inhumane hours’ for ‘little or no pay’, Home Office sources said. Gangs involved in people trafficking have been driving illegal migration by giving migrants ‘false promises’ about their ability to work here, they added.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: ‘The immigration rules must be respected and enforced.
‘For far too long, employers have been able to take on and exploit illegal migrants and too many people have been able to arrive and work illegally with no enforcement action ever taken.
‘Not only does this create a dangerous draw for people to risk their lives by crossing the Channel in a small boat, but it results in the abuse of vulnerable people, the immigration system and our economy.
‘That’s why, as part of our Plan for Change, we are boosting enforcement to record levels alongside tough new legislation to smash the criminal gangs.’
A raid on vape shops in Cheshire led to ten immigration arrests and two criminal arrests for counterfeit documents, a Home Office spokesman said.
An enforcement visit to an Indian restaurant in Humberside led to seven arrests and four detentions. And one to a grocery warehouse in south London resulted in six arrests and four people being detained.
In Wales and the West of England, the number of arrests made in January more than doubled compared with a year earlier, from 45 to 101.
Home Office minister Dame Angela Eagle today defended the Government’s decision to publish footage of immigration raids.
‘It’s important that we show what we are doing and it’s important that we send messages to people who may have been sold lies about what will await them in the UK if they get themselves smuggled in,’ she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
‘They are more likely to be living in squalid conditions, being exploited by vicious gangs.
‘It’s important that we get those realities across and it’s important that that’s done in imagery as well as words.’
Asked whether the policy is in line with Sir Keir Starmer’s previous pledge to create an immigration system ‘based on compassion and dignity’, Dame Angela added: ‘I don’t believe for one minute that enforcing the law and ensuring that people who break the law face the consequences of doing that, up to and including deportation, arrest, is not compassionate.
‘We have to have a system where the rules are respected and enforced.’
A Government social media campaign discouraging people from making the journey to the UK was launched in Vietnam in December and Albania in January.