UK Home Secretary Priti Patel Signs Deal To Deport Illegal Pak Migrants
Britain has clinched a new agreement
with Pakistan, dubbed a "landmark" deal, to speedily remove Pakistani
nationals with no legal right to remain in the UK.
The Returns Agreement was signed by Home Secretary Priti Patel
and Pakistan Interior Secretary Yousaf Naseem Khokhar and the country's High
Commissioner to the UK, Moazzam Ahmad Khan in London on Wednesday.
The
agreement will target Pakistan criminals, failed asylum seekers, visa
overstayers, and immigration offenders to facilitate their return to their home
nation.
"I'm
proud to have signed a new landmark agreement with our Pakistani friends to
return foreign criminals and immigration offenders from the UK to
Pakistan," said Patel.
"Our
new Borders Act will go further and help end the cycle of last-minute claims
and appeals that can delay removals," Indian-origin Cabinet minister said.
According
to the UK Home Office data, Pakistan nationals make up the seventh largest
number of foreign criminals in prisons in England and Wales, totalling nearly 3
per cent of the foreign national offender population, around 2,500 prisoners.
The
British government says the new agreement underlines both countries' ongoing
commitment to tackling the issue of illegal migration and the significant
threats it poses to both nations. The agreement also includes ongoing work to
"improve and expand UK-Pakistani law enforcement cooperation".
The
new pact with Pakistan is among a series of Returns Agreements signed by Patel
in 15 months under the government's "New Plan for Immigration" to
tackle illegal migration.
From
January 2019 to the year ending December 2021, the UK Home Office says it has
removed 10,741 foreign national offenders globally.
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