Home Office response to migrant crisis is ‘poor’, report finds

The Home Office response to soaring numbers of migrants entering the UK across the English Channel is "poor," a report has found. The report by Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI), David Neal, found the "ineffective and inefficient" Home Office response has exposed gaps in security procedures and left vulnerable migrants at risk.

In 2021, 28,526 people arrived on the south coast in small boats, according to Home Office statistics, an increase from 236 in 2018. An inspection of the Tug Haven and Western Jet Foil processing facilities, both in Dover, found the Government response to the challenge of the increasing numbers was poor, particularly in terms of systems, processes and resources.

According to the report, the Home Office told ICIBI inspectors that 227 migrants had gone missing from secure hotels between September 2021 and January 2022. Data collection and accurate record keeping is “inexcusably awful,” according to Neal, who said the equipment used to carry out security checks is out-of-date and unreliable.

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Many migrants had not had their full identities recorded, with their fingerprints or photographs not taken. Neal said: “Put simply, if we don’t have a record of people coming into the country, then we do not know who is threatened or who is threatening.”

He criticised the “unacceptable” Home Office response in dealing with the arrival of many vulnerable and at risk migrants, including children and lone women. The report claims effective safeguarding was sacrificed in an effort to move migrants through the facilities quickly, due to the large numbers crossing the Channel.

It says there were