More evidence that the UK is the 51st state of the US

"Assuming that we can find them, and assuming that people aren't going away of their own accord, it would take some time."

-- U.K. immigration minister Tony McNulty, estimating that it could take 10 years to deport all the illegal immigrants living in the country. Speaking to the BBC, he said 310,000 to 570,000 was "roughly in the ball park" of how many illegal immigrants were in the United Kingdom. Earlier Prime Minister Tony Blair had come under fire after saying there were no official figure estimates of illegal immigrants. Heated debate was originally sparked by the news that 1,023 foreign prisoners were released without being considered for deportation. Blair has said "there will be an automatic presumption now to deport - and the vast bulk of those people will be deported." They should not be able to claim their home country was too unsafe generally, Blair said, pointing out people were being deported to Iraq and Afghanistan.