Foreign nationals are responsible for 80% of all train theft arrests, new data shows

According to a Freedom of Information Request submitted by the think tank, 9,771 arrests were carried out across Britain’s transport network in the year 2024 to 2025.

Of those arrested, 3,688 were foreign nationals, representing 37.7 per cent.

CMC analysis shows foreign nationals are more likely to be arrested than native born people by the British Transport Police for a host of crimes.

Foreign nationals made up the overwhelming number of those arrested for stealing, at nearly 80 per cent, and were 36.6 per cent of arrests for sexual offences, 35.7 per cent of the arrests for violent crimes, and 39.6 per cent of arrests for drug related offences.

Of these migrant arrests, 225 are linked to sexual offences, 900 to violence, 187 to drugs, and 304 to theft of passenger property.

In the UK 5.9 million people hold non-British passports, representing 9.9 per cent of the population, according to the 2021 census.

Robert Bates, Research Director of the Centre for Migration Control, told GB News: “Immigration has caused a crime wave on British trains and public transport.

“Immigrants are vastly overrepresented in arrest figures from British Transport Police, particularly when it comes to theft.

“Keeping Brits safe is the number one priority of the government, yet under the Tories and Labour they have continued to let in millions of migrants who commit terrible crimes against the native population.

“Last year every three minutes a migrant was arrested in Britain.”

Mr Bates continued: “They have made our trains unsafe. It is the responsibility of any sane government to end immigration and begin a programme of mass deportations to protect the British people.”

“It is time we followed the example of the United States, and introduced a Red List of countries that are simply not eligible for a British visa.”

The news comes after data obtained by the CMC from 26 police forces across the country showed that migrants are 34 per cent more likely to be arrested for all crimes than native British people.

The data, from 2023, shows the arrest rate for British nationals was one per 94 individuals, meaning that for every 94 British nationals, one arrest was made, though some individuals may have been arrested more than once.

However, for foreign-born nationals, the rate increased to one in 70, representing a 34 per cent higher arrest rate compared to the British-born population.

Drawing on data from dozens of police forces, the CMC estimates that since 2021 there have been 369,000 arrests of non-UK nationals on Britain’s streets.

That figure represents nearly 19 per cent of the 1.96 million arrests recorded over the period, despite non-UK-born individuals making up around 16 per cent of the population.

Data supplied by almost 90 per cent of the forces surveyed indicates that migrants are overrepresented in arrest statistics relative to their share of the population.

More recent figures show that between April 2024 and March 2025, an average of 473 foreign nationals were arrested each day.

Harrison Pitt, Senior Policy Fellow at Restore Britain, said: “The fact that we already have problems of our own is no reason to import the problems of the world.”

“A patriotic government would immediately establish a tiered system of immigration.

“Any countries whose nationals are found to be overrepresented in British crime statistics, whether they hail from Afghanistan or Albania, should be forbidden from sending anyone else to our national home.”

He continued: “The safety of Britain’s host population ought to matter more than the hurt feelings of foreigners with no natural right to be here.”

GB News has approached the Home Office for comment.