Britain has deported over 1,670 Kenyans, including 107 children for contravening various immigration rules since 2006, an official of the UK Border Agency, Mr Paul Feakins told The Standard.
Responding to a written request for the information, under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, Mr Feakins, said that 277 Kenyans including 21 children, were deported from Britain in 2006. Some 330 Kenyans, including 22 children, were sent home in 2007 while 362, including 23 children, were thrown out from the UK in 2008.
The highest single number of Kenyans deported from London was done in 2009 when 375 Kenyans, including 27 children were returned.
The lowest number of Kenyans deported from the UK was 328 Kenyans, which included 14 children in 2010. Mr Feakins said that the number of Kenyans deported so far could be much higher since his information provided did not include the 2011 figures, which were still being worked out.
The Standard had sought to have a conclusive statistics data of all the Kenyans convicted by the UK courts for the last five years, those still in the UK prisons, number of children with the Kenyan nationality being held in prison or correctional facilities.
The Newspaper also sought to know some of the most serious crime ever committed by the Kenyans in UK, the number of those deported for the last five years for immigration purpose, number of adult Kenyans sent packing from Britain for committing crime, number of children deported from the UK, and number of Kenyan unaccompanied children being held in the immigration facilities.
But Mr Feakins, however said that his department didn’t have conclusive statistics data of all the Kenyans convicted by the UK courts for the last five years, or those still in prisons, and other correctional facilities saying that such information could only be obtained from the UK’s Ministry of Justice.
Mr Feakins said that it was in the public interest that the UK’s Border Agency remove as many foreign national offenders as quickly as possible in order to minimise the burden on the public purse by keeping such people in custody as well as considering whether such individuals risked re-offending if allowed to remain in Britain. Mr Feakins declined to release more information on the deportees citing Freedom of Information Act.standardmedia.co.ke
