# Criminal deportations target met (UK) - BBC News



## Yrys (26 Dec 2008)

Criminal deportations target met

A self-imposed target of removing at least 5,000 convicted foreign criminals 
from the UK over the past year has been met, the government says.

The UK Border Agency was set the "tough target" by the government and now 
has staff working in prisons to speed up the removal of foreign criminals. Those 
deported included convicted killers and 200 sex offenders.

The Tories said the figures hid the fact thousands more foreign criminals were 
being jailed or released early.

In 2006 then Home Secretary Charles Clarke ended up losing his job after it 
emerged that more than 1,000 foreign offenders had been freed without being 
considered for deportation.

Provisional UK Border Agency figures show 800 more offenders were deported 
this year than last, a figure which met another government target. Among the 
deported foreign prisoners were 50 people convicted of killings or attempted 
killings, 200 sex offenders and more than 1,500 people found guilty of drug 
offences.

Ministers say all non-EU prisoners convicted of serious drug or gun crimes are 
now considered for deportation, irrespective of the length of their sentence.

Immigration minister Phil Woolas said: "Britain will not tolerate those that come 
here and break our rules, which is why we set the UK Border Agency the tough 
target of removing 5,000 foreign lawbreakers this year. "By exceeding this target 
we're showing once again that there's no place in Britain for those that continue 
to abuse our trust. "We now consider for deportation all non-European Economic 
Area foreign nationals who go to prison for serious drug and gun offences, no 
matter what the length of sentence."

*'Pitiful progress'*

But the Conservatives said statistics showed that for every three foreigners 
removed from the UK, two were freed having served less than half their sentence 
and with a taxpayer-funded allowance, and six more were added to the prison 
population.

Shadow justice secretary Nick Herbert said the numbers had risen so fast that 
three jails were now dedicated to housing foreign criminals. He said: "Far from 
paying the price as Gordon Brown promised, foreign national offenders are being 
rewarded by serving less than half of their jail sentence and with taxpayers' cash 
in their back pockets."

Sir Andrew Green, the chairman of campaign group Migrationwatch UK, said: 
"This is a welcome announcement but it is designed to deflect attention from a 10% 
drop in the removal of failed asylum seekers and pitiful progress in removing 
illegal immigrants. "Effective removal is vital to a credible immigration system 
but the government is still not putting their back into it."

*Licence scheme*

Justice Minister David Hanson said the government would end End of Custody 
Licence (ECL) "when headroom allows".

Those inmates who are eligible for that scheme - introduced to tackle prison 
overcrowding - can be freed a further 18 days earlier than the time indicated 
by half their sentence. ECL applies only to those serving between four weeks 
and four years and is not available to prisoners convicted of the most serious 
crimes.

Mr Hanson said: "We are working extremely hard, with the fastest ever creation 
of prison spaces and when we judge it is safe to do so, we will end ECL. "Those 
prisoners who present the highest risk to the public are excluded from consideration 
under ECL. "All prisoners are provided with basic subsistence to enable them to pay 
for accommodation etc following release."


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