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| Picture belonging to the same article - The detention of one person for one month costs British taxpayers about $5,000 [Detention Action] |
Bedfordshire, United Kingdom - On the wall at the
visitor's reception room at the Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre, a row
of clocks display the time in various countries around the world.
[…]
The UK is one of the few countries in the world that does not impose limits on the amount of time that asylum seekers can be detained. This means that migrants from countries where safe return is not guaranteed, such as Somalia, or those with disputed nationality can be held for years. According to the Ministry of Justice's own figures, it can cost the British taxpayer about £3,000 ($5,000) per month to hold a detainee. Yet most detainees end up being released, not deported. In 2013, only 25 percent of those in Yarl's Wood were removed from the UK. And figures show the longer a detainee is held, the more likely they are to be released, instead of deported.
