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See other news storiesBuilding work begins on new removal centre
24 July 2007
New facility will help speed deportations of illegal immigrants.
Home Office Minister Liam Byrne helped break the ground today for the new removal centre now under construction at Gatwick airport.
Scheduled to open in 2008 as Brook House, the new centre inside the boundary fence of Gatwick Airport is a key part of the Border and Immigration Agency's (new window) plan to increase deportations of foreign nationals who have entered the UK illegally.
It will be a secure, purpose-built facility, with space for 426 detainees, and will provide safe and secure residence for people awaiting deportation.
'We will do everything we can to send you home'
Already, an illegal immigrant is deported from the UK every eight minutes, thanks in part to the government's decision earlier this year to double enforcement resources.
Mr Byrne said removals of illegal immigrants reached record levels last year, and even more is being done now to keep the process moving quickly.
'Building this new removal centre at Gatwick sends a very clear message to those here illegally: we'll do everything we can to send you home,' he said.
The government's first priority is to identify and deport any illegal residents who are likely to pose some sort of threat to the country. Over the past 12 months, nearly 3,000 foreign national prisoners have been deported.
The removal of failed asylum seekers reached its highest level in 2006, and asylum applications have fallen by a massive 76% since 2002.
