More people were removed from Britain between July and September this year than in any other third quarter since 2002, the Home Office announced Wednesday.
In the three months to September this year, 17,525 people were removed - a nine percent increase on the same period the previous year and the highest number of removals in any third quarter for six years.
This included a 14 percent increase in non-asylum removals - a group that includes foreign national prisoners - with removals increasing from 12,680 in the third quarter of 2007 to 14,405 in the same period this year.
The Home Office claimed it is succeeding in its commitment to remove anyone who has no right to be here with a focus on targeting the most harmful first. In the first six months of this year over 2,500 foreign prisoners were removed, a 23 percent increase on the same period last year.
Last year, the UK Border Agency removed over 4,200 foreign prisoners and Wednesday's figures suggest it is well on track to meet its tough target to remove 5,000 before the 2008 end.
"The huge shake-up we have made to the immigration system is paying off. Our borders are tougher than ever before, asylum applications remain low and we are removing record numbers of foreign law breakers. Last year, someone was removed every eight minutes, including more than 4,200 foreign national prisoners...we are well on track to kick out more this year," Border and Immigration Minister Phil Woolas said.
To speed up the removal process further still, the Government announced, earlier this year, that the capacity of the immigration detention estate will be increased by 60 percent, with an additional 1,300 to 1,500 spaces for immigration offenders within two years.
A dramatic drop in the number of east Europeans registering to work in the UK was recorded by other statistics published by the Home Office Wednesday.