The Cost of Being a Soft Touch

Many of the costs which mass immigration of the unproductive inflicts on the host society are subtle; but it was revealed this week that they are varied and often unexpected indeed.

Firstly, it was revealed that illegal immigrants in Calais - who have not even reached Britain or claimed asylum - are being offered 'resettlement grants' of £1,700 to return home voluntarily:

Illegal immigrants queuing to enter Britain are being offered 'bribes' worth £1,700 to return home instead.

The British and French Governments are funding the Global Calais Project which targets those staying in squalid makeshift camps near Calais.

The immigrants - many of whom have paid people smugglers to help them reach the UK - are told they will be put on a flight home and given help worth 2,000 euros if they agree to go voluntarily.

The UK taxpayer's contribution, likely to run to millions of pounds, is to help the migrants set up a small business once they return to their homeland.

It also emerged last night that the Government is reconsidering funding joint flights with the French to take failed migrants home.

Last year the French pulled out of a plan to introduce charter flights to repatriate illegal Afghan migrants, citing humanitarian reasons.

The Home Office already funds payments worth £4,000 for failed asylum seekers living in the UK who agree to go home. But inducements are now on offer to people who have not even reached the UK.

Officials insist that any cash payments made to the migrants come from the French Government. However, the UK pays millions every year to the International Organisation for Migration, which is running the scheme. Last year the Home Office gave it almost £20million.

That's bad enough, but it gets worse; it emerged on the same day that failed asylum seekers who had no right at all to be in Britain were being paid thousands of pounds to leave voluntarily and cover their expenses - including starting up a business once they returned home:

Failed asylum seekers living in Britain can already benefit from generous 'resettlement' grants worth thousands of pounds each.

The value of the support packages - described as 'bribes' by critics - can be as much as £4,000.

The deal includes money for housing, childcare, school fees for any children and even help setting up a business.

Ministers insist it provides good value as the total cost of forcibly removing a bogus refugee can be as much as £11,000.

But the programme has cost the taxpayer well in excess of £30million. In part, this is down to the nature of the businesses opened by its beneficiaries.

A 35-year-old Iranian was given money to open an ostrich farm, an Albanian was given cash to open a vineyard while a Zimbabwean was paid hundreds of pounds to open a beauty salon.

The hope is that setting up migrants with fledgling businesses will give the failed migrants a chance to settle and prosper when they return to their homelands, rather than leaving them rootless and ready to return to Britain.

A few days earlier, it was reported that the government has paid out over £500,000 in compensation in one year to foreign prisoners awaiting deportation - for detaining them past the end of their sentence:

Foreign criminals have been awarded compensation of £500,000 for being kept in custody beyond their release date.

The prisoners were held while the Government considered whether to deport them.

Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, told MPs that between April 2008 and June this year the UK Border Agency paid out £498,897.21, but did not disclose how many prisoners were involved.

His written parliamentary answer was published on the day Parliament rose for the summer recess.

Dominic Grieve, shadow justice secretary, said: “The public will rightly be shocked to learn that not only are the Government failing to deport foreign prisoners but taxpayers are also paying the price for the Government’s incompetence”.

Phil Woolas, the immigration minister, said: “Our priority is to protect the public and we believe foreign lawbreakers who have committed serious offences should be sent home at the earliest opportunity and last year removed nearly 5,400 foreign criminals.

"We do not apologise for our tough system, but where the courts tell us that we have detained a criminal for too long, we are bound to accept their decision.”

Tough system. Simply boggles the mind, doesn't it?

If the system was so tough, many of these individuals would not be here in the first place, and they certainly wouldn't be able to claim compensation for being (rightfully) detained as their deportation was arranged.

Perhaps if they were not allowed so many appeals at the taxpayers' expense, it could all be sorted out a lot more quickly.

What we need is a government that is actually in touch with reality - and I can't see that happening.