Over 50,000 illegal migrants 'loose on Britain's streets - because Home Office doesn't know where they are'

It also shows a total of 736 foreign offenders have also slipped Shabana Mahmood's net, having either absconded or gone missing after being released from prison or detention.

Most of that number are meant to be deported.

The Home Office itself has refused to confirm whether the 53,298 figure is accurate, though a spokesman talked up its deportation record under Labour.

But the document - brought to light by a "whistleblower" and sent to independent MP Rupert Lowe - appears to match up to existing data on free-roaming migrants.

In a 2016 report for the chief inspector of borders and immigration, it was revealed that there were almost 60,000 absconders.

Mr Lowe has now demanded that the Home Secretary "urgently" details the steps being taken to apprehend and deport the criminals.

"This is a national security emergency, and must be treated as such," he said.

A Home Office spokesman, meanwhile, said: "Under this Government, returns of people with no right to remain in the UK have surged, with almost 50,000 people removed - up 23 per cent.

"Last week, the Home Secretary announced the most sweeping reforms to tackle illegal migration in modern times.

"These will make Britain a less attractive destination for illegal migrants and will make it easier to remove and deport them."

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Tony Smith, the ex-director-general of Border Force, said it would be "quite easy" for a migrant on immigration bail who was set to be deported to vanish.

He told The Telegraph: "We haven’t really got to grips with identifying and catching people who are working cash-in-hand here.

"I know we have right-to-work checks and right-to-rent checks but it is quite easy to lose yourself in the black economy in this country.

"You are only really going to get caught if you happen to be in a raid when immigration enforcement turn up. They will recognise them as an absconder because they will have been fingerprinted, so your biometric data will be in the system.

"It also doesn’t necessarily mean that they are going to be removed. You might find that they raise a new application to stay in the UK when they are caught."

As well as the Home Office's deportations rising, the number of non-EU migrants coming to Britain is on the decline.

A further drop in net migration to the UK is likely to be revealed when new estimates are published on Thursday.

The total peaked at a record 944,000 in the year to March 2023 - the peak of the "Boriswave" - but has since fallen, reaching 345,000 in the year to December 2024.

This is the lowest figure for any 12-month period since 2021, according to recently updated data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

New estimates from the ONS on Thursday will cover the 12 months to June 2025 and are expected to show an even lower number.

The fall in net migration is being driven by a steady decline in people from outside the EU coming to the UK to work, study or join other family members.