SMALL boat migrants could be forced to repay their hotel and benefit costs if granted asylum.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is said to be considering a payback requirement for those who stay.
The total cost of migrant accommodation is expected to hit £15billion in the next five years.
Labour MPs under threat from Reform are pushing ministers for a repayment plan.
They say it will help bring down the cost to the taxpayer and act as a deterrent.
MP Jo White, who leads the backbench Red Wall group, said it would work like a “student loan repayment” for illegal migrants.
She also demanded they are processed in the first safe country they enter to stop the “horrendous sight” of them arriving on small boats.
After a spell of bad weather, Thursday saw 621 come from France in nine vessels.
Ms Mahmood is currently working on an Asylum Policy Statement which will include tougher measures on illegal migration.
PM Sir Keir Starmer has said: “Settlement must be earned by contributing to our country, not by paying people-smugglers to cross the Channel.”
A damning Commons report last week found billions squandered on asylum accommodation.
More than 32,059 migrants were still in hotels as of June.
