The British government has given up looking for 10,000 missing migrants because to search for them would be a “drain on resources”, according to the chief inspector of borders and immigration.

David Bolt said that a further 30,406 failed asylum seekers had been allowed to stay in the country for at least two years even after all their appeal rights had been exhausted.

Mr Bolt’s report, published yesterday, outlines the scale of the Home Office’s failure to remove illegal migrants and also shows the difficulty authorities have in enforcing immigration rules.

Up to 47,000 are now required to report to immigration authorities and this number is constantly rising, putting a serious strain on resources.

The revelation that will cause most alarm however, is asylum caseworkers reporting 10,000 migrants had simply disappeared. The report says:

“Asylum casework managers told us that there were approximately 10,000 asylum claims where the claimant and dependants were not in contact with the Home Office or had absconded. While ICE teams could conduct residential visits to attempt to trace absconders they were reluctant to do so as this work was not a priority and was considered a drain on resources.”

This number includes asylum claimants who are still awaiting a decision and those who are still in the country after their application has failed.

Meanwhile, authorities had failed to remove a further 30,000 failed asylum seekers. Mr Bolt said: “Failure to deal with asylum cases in a timely manner was inefficient as well as ineffective,” he said.

“The more time an asylum case took to resolve, the more likely barriers to removal would arise from the formation of relationships, the birth of children and other community ties. It also meant individuals were left not knowing if or when the Home Office might take action to remove them.”

A Home Office spokesman told The Times: “We expect people with no right to be here to leave the country voluntarily — and we offer help for them to do this — but where they do not, we will enforce their departure.

“The report rightly links our efforts to make it harder to stay illegally in the UK with increased numbers of voluntary returns. Results show that the total number of voluntary returns was over 50,000 during the last two years, including over 27,000 notified and assisted voluntary departures.”

In October, Breitbart London reported how police gave up the search for an armed migrant gang just 36 hours after they shot at a farm worker in Staffordshire.

Despite the men being armed and willing to fire upon members of the public, Staffordshire Police said the hunt for them had “concluded” and merely confirmed the “forensic” investigation was ongoing.

Breitbart London contacted the police force at the time, asking them if the short search was proportionate for an armed migrant gang. A spokesman replied they had nothing further to add.