More than 80,000 foreign nationals have been returned from the United Kingdom between July 2024 and July 2026, according to the British government, with authorities describing the level of removals as the highest in nearly a decade. The returns include foreign national offenders, immigration offenders and people who do not have a legal right to remain in the UK.
The government says the crackdown has also resulted in the return of around 10,000 foreign national offenders during the period. Ministers have pledged to further strengthen immigration enforcement and speed up the removal of people who are not legally entitled to stay in the country.
Official Home Office statistics show that 39,007 people were returned from the UK in the year ending March 2026. Around three-quarters of those returns were voluntary, while one-quarter were enforced by the Home Office. There were 9,723 enforced returns during the same period.
Foreign National Offenders
The latest official figures show that 5,858 foreign national offenders were returned in the year ending March 2026, an increase of 13% compared with the previous year and the highest level recorded since 2017. Drug-related offences were the most common conviction among foreign offenders returned during calendar year 2025.
The UK government has also announced plans to expand immigration detention capacity by 40%. The expansion of the Haslar and Campsfield Immigration Removal Centres is expected to increase their combined capacity from 290 to around 1,000 beds.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has said the government intends to accelerate returns and strengthen enforcement against people who have no legal right to remain in Britain. The government is also increasing resources for Immigration Enforcement.
