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Home Office

Answer

Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to modify the systems for tracking illegal immigrants. [73777] Beverley Hughes: The nature of illegal entry is such that it is not possible to track every individual who has entered the United Kingdom unlawfully. However, on detection, those liable to removal may be granted temporary admission pending a decision whether to grant leave or remove. Temporary admission may be subject to conditions of residence, employment and reporting to the Police or an Immigration Officer. Failure to comply with these conditions is an offence. A person detained under Immigration Act powers may be released on bail, subject to conditions, which may include a requirement to report. I outlined in my reply to the hon. Member of 16 July, Official Report, column 224W, measures for contact management which are in place to track and monitor all failed asylum seekers whether illegal entrants or not. This is to ensure that they are removed from the United Kingdom if they do not appeal or as soon as possible after their appeal rights have been exhausted. Since my earlier reply the number of designated reporting centres has been increased to eight, and plans are in hand to enhance contact management further by the use of mobile reporting centres, Immigration Service teams using specified police stations for reporting and for visiting asylum seekers at their accommodation. The Immigration and Nationality Directorate are currently undertaking a project to amalgamate their Ports, Enforcement and Casework Information Technology Systems into a joint database. This project is in its early stages. However, once completed, it should enhance our ability to track those illegal entrants who have been detected. Additionally, the Government is developing strategies to detect clandestine illegal entrants before they get to the United Kingdom. On 12 July my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary agreed a range of measures with his French counterpart to reduce the level of illegal immigration between France and the United Kingdom. As part of this the Immigration Service is committed to deploying new detection technology (such as heart beat detectors and millimetric wave imagers) at Calais and other continental ports. The government has also created Reflex, a multi- agency forum to direct all activity against organised immigration crime targeting the United Kingdom. Reflex aims to reduce the profits made by the criminal gangs, raise the risks they face and reduce the opportunities for them to exploit individuals, thereby reducing the flow of illegal migrants to the United Kingdom. It achieves this through a combination of overseas and United Kingdom based activity. Since April 2002, 16 organised crime groups involved in people smuggling and trafficking have been disrupted and there are currently 60 operations targeting serious criminal involvement ongoing. Nine Immigration Liaison Officers have been posted overseas to work closely with local law enforcement to disrupt the flows of illegal migrants to the United Kingdom and a United Kingdom-led project assisting the State Border Service in Bosnia has seen a reduction of over 90 per cent. of potential illegal migrants passing through Sarajevo airport.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

391 c104-5W; 73777

Session

2001-02

Subjects

Immigration controls Undocumented migrants

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk