Britain returned just ONE asylum seeker to Ireland under Brexit deal

Britain has returned just a single asylum seeker to Ireland since a post-Brexit deal was signed six years ago.

The 2020 deal was intended to allow the transfer of asylum seekers between the two nations.

Critics have slammed the "back door" border route following the Belfast attack, where the suspect travelled from Dublin to the Northern Irish capital.

Hadi Alodid, the Sudanese migrant who appeared in court charged with attempted murder after Monday night’s attack, was granted leave to remain in Britain after arriving across the border in 2023.

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The Common Travel Area (CTA) has been heavily criticised as the 310-mile land border between features zero routine passport or immigration checkpoints.

A National Crime Agency (NCA) assessment highlighted that Organised Crime Groups (OCGs) systematically abuse the CTA.

Northern Ireland supports 2,370 asylum seekers, roughly 2.5 per cent of all asylum seekers in the UK.

From these, just one migrant was removed under the post-Brexit deal.

None were sent from Ireland back to Britain under the two-way agreement.

The deal is a non-legally binding informal returns agreement introduced under the Conservative Government.

It was briefly paused in 2024 when Ireland announced plans to introduce emergency legislation to combat the flow of migrants fleeing Britain to avoid deportation under the proposed Rwanda plan.

Nearly 1,000 illegal migrants have been removed from Northern Ireland over the last year, the Home Office has said.

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Criminal networks are increasingly using the Common Travel Area between the UK and Ireland as an alternative smuggling route, after GB News revealed the loophole was becoming a “migrant magnet” late last year.

In November, North Antrim MP Jim Allister warned The People’s Channel that migrants could pass through the UK’s porous border with the Irish Republic, where they would enjoy protection from deportation under the Windsor Framework in the North.

He said the loophole would “drive coach and horses” through Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s pledge to get to grips with Britain’s migrant crisis.

Belfast was hit with a second night of violence, with 12 police officers injured and 16 arrests made.

Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn confirmed the incidents this morning, after riots and protests have ripped across the region.

Footage from the riots shows the police were pelted with bricks and petrol bombs, with masked rioters in County Antrim last night.

The Belfast knife suspect was handed asylum in Britain under a "fast-track" Home Office scheme, it has emerged.

Under a "streamlined" scheme set up by then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, he was allowed to stay in the UK after completing a 10-page Home Office questionnaire.

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