ALMOST 6,000 illegal migrants have gone missing, ministers admitted yesterday.
The Home Office said they vanished without trace after withdrawing their asylum claims.
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Immigration Minister Tom Pursglove said officials were taking steps to urgently re-establish contact with them.
Small boat migrants who arrive in Britain illegally currently are not detained but are supposed to check in regularly.
Labour blasted the “staggering admission” 5,931 have disappeared, revealed in a letter to the Home Affairs Select Committee.
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “The fact that thousands of people have been allowed to effectively disappear into the underground economy or left vulnerable to exploitation by criminal gangs is yet more evidence of the shocking mismanagement and chaos in the Tory asylum system.”
Meanwhile the Home Office was rebuked by the stats watchdog after claiming to have cleared the asylum backlog.
