Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 14 July 2011, Official Report, column 458W, on illegal immigrants, how many overstayers have been identified by e-border checks in each of the first nine months of 2011; and how many of those overstayers have now been removed. [87740]
Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con): In many cases the trial judge makes an order for deportation as part of the sentence, but a significant number of offenders destroy their passports and paperwork in an attempt to frustrate deportation. Would two things be possible? First, the trial judge could be invited to make a finding of fact at the time of sentencing about the citizenship of the offender. Secondly, to follow on from the question asked by the Chair of the Home Affairs Committee, notice could be served on the offender’s high commission or embassy indicating that on completion of the sentence the individual would be deported to the country concerned, and inviting the full co-operation of that embassy or high commission.