UK taxpayers fork out £1million — to keep 13 suspected illegal immigrants in Britain
Costs of £90 a day to hold group who have been held at immigration centres for combined total of 32 years
TAXPAYERS have forked out £1million to keep 13 long-stay suspected illegal immigrants in Britain.
It is costing £90 a day to hold the group before adding legal costs run up as they fight deportation, we can reveal.
The bill so far would have paid for 45 nurses for a year.
Home Office figures show the group have been held at immigration detention centres for a combined total of 32 years.
Three have been here more than three years, and five for between two and three years.
It is not known how many, if any, are women.
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The bill for holding them, before legal fees, was £1.054million at the last count.
Jonathan Isaby, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “This is an outrageous waste of taxpayers’ money and a travesty of justice.
“A system which keeps people’s lives on hold for years while hard-pressed families are made to pick up the bill is clearly not fit for purpose.”
Mr Isaby called for a “swift and efficient” decision-making process on held immigrants.
The figures showed 2,607 people were being held in detention centres under immigration laws and 418 in jails.
The Home Office said most are removed within four months.
It added those delayed for longer have often failed to provide details on their identity and nationality.