More than 50,000 illegal migrants have been listed as 'absconded' on Government systems
A former Scotland Yard Detective has expressed his outrage at the Home Office after eye-watering data revealed the number of migrants who are "missing" in Britain.
Speaking to GB News, Mike Neville criticised the Home Office for having "no system", allowing illegal migrants to "vanish".
New data has revealed more than 50,000 illegal immigrants, including 1,200 foreign criminals, have slipped under the Home Office's radar in the United Kingdom.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is preparing to introduce new legislation next week aimed at making it harder for migrants to use human rights laws to block deportation.
Reacting to the data, Mr Neville told GB News that he is "surprised" the figure is not "10 times bigger".
He said: "There's several reasons for this, and the main one is there's been no political will to control these people.
"We hear the Home Secretary will introduce some new laws - there are plenty of laws at the moment - we don't need new laws, we need more action, and these people should have been detained."
Mr Neville stressed that the real risk of these missing illegal migrants is the "risk to women and girls".
He said: "They shouldn't have been allowed to wander around. They'll talk about all the tagging them, but of course, who's there to check on any tags?
"The police are just left to clear up the mess, and what this does, in fact, is really the people this puts at risk are our women and girls, our mothers and wives, the daughters and sisters.
"Because there are a lot of sex offences committed. We know that Afghans, for example, are 20 times more likely to commit sex offences than British-born people.
"So this whole affair may be part of the multicultural dream, but it just puts British people at risk, particularly women and girls."
The ex-detective expressed his frustration at the lack of system from the Home Office in keeping track of illegal migrants.
He fumed: "The Government will say to the police, 'oh, there's got to be intelligent use of stop and searched, or else you could be accused of racism'. How can the police have intelligence if the Home Office doesn't even know who is in this country?
"Where are these people, who allowed them to wander? There is just simply no system in place here. They're just allowed out, they're put in some HMO and strangely enough, they just vanish."
Mr Neville stressed that illegal migrants come over to the UK and are "allowed to get away with it" compared to travelling to other countries.
He told GB News: "To be honest, Martin, they said there's 1,200 missing criminals, really there's a lot more than that, and people are not fools.
"You can come here illegally, which is a crime, and you're just allowed to get away with it. You're given a lawyer and free bedding and free food.
"And then when you commit crime, there won't be a court case for several months if you ever get caught in the first place, and if you go to prison, it's quite reasonable. It's probably better than living in their country."
A Home Office source told The Telegraph: "Management of contact with those with no right to be in the UK was chaotic and data was unreliable.
"Under the previous Government, removals failed to keep pace with arrivals, and the Conservatives stopped asylum decision-making as they pursued their failed Rwanda plan. As a result, the asylum backlog ballooned to 175,000."