Shabana Mahmood will deport thousands of failed asylum seekers before they can use human rights laws to appeal or block their removals.
Using laws drawn up by Tony Blair‘s Labour government, the Home Secretary plans to remove migrants as soon as their asylum claims are rejected, so they can only appeal once back in their home countries.
The tougher approach is aimed at reducing the record backlog of more than 100,000 appeals made by rejected asylum seekers – many of whom are housed in hotels costing the taxpayer millions.
Failed asylum seekers will be deported to 25 ‘safe’ countries identified by officials before they can appeal. These include India, Brazil, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Albania and Ukraine.
The measure has come under fire from Labour leadership challenger Angela Rayner, who said it was ‘un-British’ and ‘pulled the rug’ from hardworking families. Nearly 50 other MPs threatened to rebel over Mahmood’s immigration crackdown last month.
Alex Norris, the border security and asylum minister, told The Telegraph: ‘A firm and fair approach to immigration does not mean hard-working taxpayers provide for individuals with refused human rights claims, many of whom are vile criminals.
‘That is why we are scaling up the use of these powers to deport more foreign national offenders to their home countries, where their appeals can be heard. We will not hesitate to remove incentives which draw people to the UK illegally. ‘
There are currently more than 100,000 appeals made by failed asylum seekers – many of whom are being housed at the expense of millions to taxpayers
Shabana Mahmood’s crackdown would see asylum seekers from ‘safe’ countries whose claims are rejected immediately deported before they can appeal while still in the UK
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Under Blair’s Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, the Home Office can only deport failed asylum claims to safe countries where they do not face a ‘real risk of serious irreversible harm’.
Some 14,000 failed asylum claims from last year come from the 25 countries deemed ‘safe’ by the Home Office – 4,000 from India, 2,700 from Nigeria and 1,750 from Albania.
The act removes rights to taxpayer-funded accommodation, support and their ability to appeal while in the UK once their asylum claim is rejected.
Migrants are then given the option to go voluntarily with paid flights or to be forcibly removed.
There were 104,400 failed asylum appeals by the end of 2025 – nearly double 2024’s total.
The number of those removed without appeal did increase by 50 per cent to 8,476. However, with so many more new appeals, removals dropped to 10.6 per cent as a proportion of the total 80,000 rejected asylum seekers.
