Nearly 5,000 migrants that had been deported returned to Britain within years

An investigation has uncovered that approximately 4,300 previously deported migrants were discovered back in Britain during the period from 2021 to 2025.

The findings show 4,614 separate re-entry incidents involving people who had been removed from the country over the five-year span.

More than 720 of these migrants faced deportation on at least two occasions, the data from The Sun reveals.

Albanian nationals represented the largest group among those returning after removal, accounting for over one-third of all cases with 1,525 individuals detected back in Britain.

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The Home Office has acknowledged the true figures may be considerably higher, as identification matching is not always possible for every person encountered.

On average, more than two deported migrants re-entered the UK daily during this period.

The financial burden of enforced removals stands at £48,800 per deportation on average during the 2024/25 financial year, dwarfing the £4,300 cost associated with voluntary departures.

Following Albanians in the re-entry statistics were Romanian nationals at 767 cases, with Afghans numbering 281, Lithuanians at 233, and Iraqis accounting for 150 instances.

During the year to March 2025, authorities recorded 26,388 voluntary returns alongside 8,590 enforced removals.

It remains uncertain how many of those encountered after previous deportation are still present in the country.

Since Sir Keir Starmer entered Downing Street in July 2024, more than 76,000 migrants have made the Channel crossing illegally.

Labour's flagship agreement with France, designed to operate on a reciprocal removal basis, has produced underwhelming results since launching in August 2025.

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By June 15 2026, merely 921 migrants had been sent back to France under the arrangement.

The policy encountered difficulties from its inception, with legal challenges in the High Court blocking the removal of asylum seekers.

In a single week between June 15 and 22, 1,912 people reached Britain via small boats.

Despite these outcomes, the government committed an additional £662million to French authorities.

Reform UK Shadow Home Secretary Zia Yusuf condemned the situation in stark terms: "Britain's borders have become a national joke.

"Thousands of people who were deported from this country have strolled back in, with some being removed and returning more than once.

"The Tories turned Britain into a revolving door for illegal migration, and Labour have no interest in closing it. The British public are now paying the price for decades of incompetence."

Mr Yusuf pledged his party would "restore control, enforce the law, and ensure that deported means deported."

A Home Office spokesperson defended the government's record, stating: "We will not accept any abuse of our borders.

"Individuals who are returned and subsequently attempt to re-enter the UK illegally will be caught and removed.

"Nearly 70,000 individuals have been returned or removed from the UK since the July 2024 election to the end of March 2026 – a 41 per cent increase on the number of returns recorded in the previous 21-month period."

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