Thousands of migrants earmarked for deportation to Rwanda are missing, Home Secretary James Cleverly has indicated.
The Braintree MP said that the Home Office was unsure of the location of 3,500 people who have been drawn up for being sent to the east African nation.
Only 2,143 out of the 5,700 people identified for deportation are reporting to the Home Office and can be located.
Cleverly also said that he was unable to rule out whether those who were missing were a threat to the public.
"That’s not necessarily one of the prime criteria that we are looking for," he said when asked who had been considered for deportation.
Denying that someone failing to report to officials has vanished from the system, he added: “That’s not how it works.
"The immigration enforcement officials, they do their investigations, they find these individuals and they remove them.
“People often abscond, we find them, we remove them. This is a very, very standard practice.”
The Government is hoping its first deportation flight to Rwanda will take place by July.
The Rwanda scheme was first unveiled in April 2022 but repeated legal challenges had prevented migrants from being sent to the country.
Deportations are now expected to start after the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act became law in April after months of back and forth between the House of Commons and House of Lords.
Ministers argue the Rwanda scheme will act as a deterrent to illegal migrants entering the UK.
Provisional Home Office figures show more than 9,000 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel so far this year.
This is up 35 per cent on this time last year, when 6,691 crossings were recorded, and a 16 per cent rise compared to the same period in 2022 (7,801).
Labour has vowed to scrap the Rwanda scheme if it wins the next general election, accusing the system of being flawed.
The party says that since Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act became law, more than 2,000 migrants have crossed the Channel.
