§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will give, for the longest and most convenient period of time, the estimated number of illegal immigrants; how many of these were deported; and what action is to be taken against those known illegal immigrants still in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. Merlyn ReesIllegal entry, by its very nature, cannot reliably be estimated. Between 1st January 1973, when the Immigration Act 1971 came fully into force, and 31st December 1976, 733 illegal entrants were removed. In addition, 480 deportation orders were made under Section 3(5)(a) of the Act against people who entered lawfully but subsequently breached the conditions of their stay. Moreover, some of those deported following recommendations by the courts had been convicted of failure to comply with the conditions of admission.
The normal practice is to send away people found to have entered the country illegally after 1st January 1973. The cases of people found to be in breach of conditions are considered on their merits; I do not hesitate to authorise deportation in appropriate cases.