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| Wednesday June 7, 10:36 AM |
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Two thirds of those who are refused asylum in Britain currently vanish in an attempt to stay in the country, according to Home Office figures.
But almost 60,000 failed applicants could be deported each year as the number of immigrants held in detention centres rises, said Ian Boon, Immigration Service director of enforcement.
He told a public meeting on the siting of a new centre on Tuesday night that officials aimed to increase the number of deportations from 9,000 last year to 12,000 this year.
Official targets have yet to be set but that could rise to 30,000 in 2001-2 and eventually to 57,000 each year.
A Home Office spokesman said: "It is important to the integrity of the asylum system that while we speed up the decision-making process it is clear to people whose claims are proved to be unfounded that they are very likely to be removed at the end of that process."
Plans to increase the number of asylum-seekers held in detention centres while their claims were processed were announced two years ago.
Capacity will be increased from 900 places to 2,700 over the next year, largely thanks to the building of two major new centres at Thurleigh, Bedfordshire, and Manston, near Thanet, Kent.
Other proposed developments will eventually mean that 4,000 would-be asylum-seekers will be held while their applications are processed.
Decisions were taken on 32,330 cases last year, with 10,685 would-be refugees
told they could not stay, the Home Office said. However, only 7,645 people who
were turned down left voluntarily or were deported in the same period.
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