Just 2,000 Channel migrants were deported last year, figures show (Image: Getty)
The number of Channel migrants being deported has fallen under Labour, the Daily Express can reveal.
Home Office figures show just 572 people were deported in the first three months of 2024, 629 between April and June, 571 in the third quarter and 558 in October, November and December.
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This took the total to 2,330, up marginally from 2,053 in 2023.
Roughly 1,600 Channel migrants have been deported since Labour came to office, the figures show.
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But in the same nine months a year earlier, 1,856 failed asylum seekers were returned.
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In the year to March 2025, some 2,240 migrants were sent home, compared to 2,316 in the previous 12 months.
Over those 24 months, 66,253 people arrived on a small boat, heaping more pressure on Britain’s crumbling asylum system and taxpayers footing the bill for their accommodation.
The Channel migrant crisis has overwhelmed the asylum system (Image: Getty)
Just 482 people were sent home in the first three months of this year.
The Home Office said some 32,345 migrants were in contingency hotels, down from 38,079 in December.
But it is still higher than when Labour took office, with the figure standing then at 29,585.
The Home Office wants to end the use of hotels by 2028 - but that pledge could be in doubt.
The Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford said it is "plausible" asylum seekers could be moved out of hotels in two years.
But this would only happen if there is not a spike in arrivals and courts process asylum claims swiftly and appeals are heard.
Mihnea Cuibus, researcher at the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, warned a "stubbornly high" backlog of asylum appeals is a challenge for Labour as it works to end the use of hotels.
He said: "Labour's pledge to end hotel accommodation for asylum seekers has been a tough nut for them to crack.
"The government is now making more asylum decisions, but the backlog of asylum appeals remains stubbornly high. This means that many asylum seekers are still in government accommodation, so ending the use of asylum hotels still seems a fair way off."
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: "This is another broken Labour promise.
"They said at the election that they would end hotel use for illegal immigrants, but today’s figures show that since the election there are actually 3,000 more illegal immigrants in hotels.
"While hard working Brits struggle to pay Labour’s higher taxes, illegal immigrants lounge around in hotels which we are re paying for.
"Illegal immigrants should be sent to Rwanda, not nice hotels."
Some 3,822 Afghans, 3,637 Iranians, 2,130 Syrians and 2,045 Eritreans were staying in asylum hotels, figures show.
But the Government will not be able to end the use of hotels for years, amid a mounting backlog in asylum appeals.
London accounted for more than a third (37%) of the total number of asylum seekers in hotels.
It comes after the spending watchdog, the National Audit Office, warned migrant hotels and accommodation will cost ￡15 billion over 10 years.
Taxpayers will shell out ￡4,191,780 a day on housing asylum seekers over the life of the 10-year contracts awarded to Serco, Clearsprings Ready Homes and Mears Group in 2019.
This is triple what the Home Office predicted.
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Home Office figures also revealed a record 109,343 people claimed asylum in the twelve months to March.
This is up from 93,150.
Some 36,123 migrants claimed asylum after arriving in the UK on a small boat.
Officials saw a sharp increase in the number of Pakistanis claiming asylum last year, with some 11,048 seeking refuge in the UK.
This is up 58% on the year to March 2024. Pakistanis made the most asylum claims last year, followed by Afghans, Iranians, Bangladeshis, Syrians, Eritreans and Indians.
Only three of the top 20 nationalities saw a fall in the number of asylum applications – Afghans, Turks and Albanians.
Home Office figures also revealed Eritreans are the most common nationality of migrants crossing the Channel on small boats.
Some 1,291 arrivals in the first three months of 2025 were from the East African country, 20% of the 6,420 whose nationality was known.
It is the first time Eritrea has accounted for the largest number of people making the journey per quarter.
The figure is up from 13% in October-December 2024 and 8% in July-September.
In both of those quarters Afghan was the most common nationality.
The latest data, which has been published by the Home Office, shows Afghan nationals were the second largest group in January to March of this year, accounting for 13% of the total.
This was followed by people from Sudan (12%), Vietnam (8%) and Iran (8%).
The rise in Eritrean migrants is the most recent example of a change in the mix of nationalities making the journey in small boats.
Vietnamese was the most common nationality in both January to March and April to June 2024, accounting for 20% and 15% of arrivals respectively.
In response, the then Conservative government signed an agreement with Vietnam to step up efforts to discourage illegal travel to the UK.
The two countries committed to develop a joint action plan to tackle human trafficking, as well as increase intelligence-sharing and raise awareness of legal routes for migration.
The proportion of arrivals from Vietnam subsequently fell to 8% in July-September and 4% in October-December, though it rose to 8% in January-March this year.
Following a spike in summer 2022 in the number of Albanians arriving in the UK on small boats, the governments of both countries struck an agreement to work together to prevent people from making the journey.
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This included placing UK Border Force staff in Tirana airport in the capital of Albania, an exchange of senior police officers and the creation of a joint migration task force.
Albanian nationals accounted for 28% of arrivals in 2022 but only 3% in 2023 and 2% in 2024.
The latest figures on Channel crossings also show that nearly all the 6,420 migrants arriving in the first three months of this year whose nationality was known went on to make a claim for asylum (6,369 or 99%).