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Data on migration and crime is “full of flaws” and leaving the public and politicians in the dark about the real impact of immigration on Britain, an expert report has warned.
New research published by the influential Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford says the government does not know how many people are in the country unauthorized and has insufficient information about what happens to asylum seekers before or after they make their first claim.
Academics warned that there is also little data on the number of immigration cases affected by the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), leaving important information lacking in the public debate.
labor has Pledged to try to change the way the ECHR This has been interpreted by UK judges to prevent asylum seekers from exercising their rights to a family life to avoid deportation. Home Office officials have claimed that the ECHR is “allowing large numbers of people to remain in the UK, against the will of the public”.
But Dr Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory, said existing data cannot give the public a clear picture of when the ECHR is used in such cases.
He added: “This makes it difficult for the public or policy makers to make an informed choice about an important decision with long-term implications for the UK”.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philip accused Labor of “hiding the data that the public needs to understand what is happening at our borders”.
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He said the government is “refusing to publish key enforcement data and they avoid saying how many cases are affected by human rights law,” adding that ministers are “keeping the country in the dark because the truth would expose how weak and incompetent their approach really is”.
Meanwhile, Steve Smith, CEO of Care4Calais, warned that the vacuum of good information could be manipulated, saying: “The public debate on migration is full of politically motivated rhetoric, and almost entirely devoid of facts. This is a dangerous situation that is undoubtedly stoking hatred and emboldening far-right actors.”
data gap Data highlighted by the Migration Observatory include data about the economic outcomes of migrants and how they change over time, a lack of information about the impact of migration on public services, and gaps in data about immigration enforcement and returns.
He also said there is no official data on the nationality or immigration status of those arrested as suspects, prosecuted in criminal cases or convicted of crimes. The research paper published on Friday said there is also little data on migrant victims of crime.
Last year, Conservative Home Secretary James Cleverley was accused of “losing thousands of lives” after officials admitted that 4,000 asylum seekers Contact with the Home Office was lost. According to reports, of the 5,000 people identified for deportation to Rwanda, about 85 percent were ‘lost’.
Approximately 6,000 asylum seekers whose claims have been made The withdrawn one had also disappeared, Ministers had accepted it last year.
Dr Peter Walsh, senior researcher at the Migration Observatory, said: “These evidence gaps are particularly challenging when trying to track asylum seekers through the immigration system: official data cannot tell us much about what happens to asylum seekers who are refused but not returned, or what type and sequence of appeals some people make when they are told they must leave the UK.
“These are important questions, especially at a time when the Government is planning to reorganize the immigration and asylum appeals system”.
Mr Smith, of Care4Calais, said: “Under Labour, it looks even less transparent than under the Tories.” Mr Smith described the release of the data as a decline in freedom of information rights and “duping anti-immigration rhetoric” as lowering the standard of debate.
He said, “People should be concerned about this problem. Today the vacuum is being used to attack refugees, but tomorrow it could be used to attack the rights of everyone.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “These findings are unacceptable, but they are the product of this government’s legacy of a migration system that was out of control.
“We are now carrying out major reforms to restore order and control at our border, and to ensure that our migration system is fair to British citizens. Under this government, net migration to the United Kingdom has fallen by two-thirds, and removals of illegal immigrants have increased by 23% to almost 50,000.”