At least 10,000 failed or missing asylum-seekers still living in Britain ten years on

AT least 10,000 failed or missing asylum-seekers are still living in Britain ten years on, figures reveal.

Some are awaiting removal after exhausting their long and costly right of appeal.

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But nearly a third have vanished and are working in the black economy.

Details of the huge backlog was revealed in Home Office documents days after European human rights judges grounded the first deportation flight to Rwanda.

Last night campaigners branded the £1.5billion-a-year asylum system “a complete mess”.

Official stats show 6,414 asylum seekers whose claim was rejected over ten years ago are still living in the UK.

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The whereabouts of a further 3,658 are unknown.

The revelations pile fresh pressure on Home Secretary Priti Patel.

She branded the decision to ground last week’s £300,000 charter to Rwanda “absolutely scandalous” — and vowed to fight on.

And Britain’s former US ambassador Sir Christopher Meyer said: “If I’d been an adviser, I’d have said fly the bloody plane anyway.”

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The sharp rise in small boats crossing the Channel has led to 37,000 destitute migrants being put up in hotels at a cost of £4.7million every day.

A total of 115,000 asylum-seekers in the UK are now awaiting a decision, with 54,000 waiting more than three years.

MigrationWatch UK’s Alp Mehmet called the situation “a complete mess”.

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A Home Office spokesman said: “The Nationality and Borders Act will fix the UK’s broken asylum system.”

AROUND 300 migrants were detained by Border Force officers in Dover yesterday after crossing the Channel in small boats.