Exposed: The failed American asylum seeker Britain won't deport
The Daily T
The Telegraph
4.1 • 705 Ratings
🗓️ 16 January 2026
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A US asylum seeker has been living in Britain for over a year with free accommodation and benefits, despite his claim being refused as ‘clearly unfounded’.
Olabode Shoniregun, 27, fled Las Vegas claiming persecution and sexual assault by US law enforcement, yet admits he'd happily return 'to visit'.
What makes matters even worse is the string of Home Office blunders that mean he’s still in the country despite agreeing to be deported. The case shows the farcical chaos of the British asylum system, where a failed asylum seeker was housed and given benefits by a local council, only to be left stranded after a failed voluntary returns attempt.
Camilla and Tim explain the 14-month saga that has caused alarm at the highest levels of government and reveal the full extent of Labour's failings.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Telegraph. |
| 0:05.0 | This is the extraordinary story of the first US citizen ever to claim asylum in the UK, told for the first time in this Daily Tea exclusive podcast. |
| 0:20.0 | In a series of bizarre social media videos, the 27-year-old American Alibati Sean Regan details |
| 0:27.1 | how he has spent 14 months living in the UK at taxpayer's expense. |
| 0:32.4 | What makes matters even worse is the string of home office blunders that means he is still in the country today, |
| 0:39.6 | despite agreeing to be deported. |
| 0:42.6 | And we can reveal how a council worker offered him benefits even though she knew his asylum |
| 0:49.9 | claim had been rejected and that he was essentially an illegal immigrant. It's a mad story. Stay |
| 0:56.9 | tuned. We're going to give you all the details. Welcome to the Daily Tea with me Tim Stanley. |
| 1:01.3 | And me, Camilla Tominy. Tim, it's been a busy week. |
| 1:14.3 | This is the most remarkable story laying bare, frankly, the chaos and confusion that reigns over our border control system, our home office in this country. |
| 1:25.9 | A case study in madness. It is a case study in insanity. |
| 1:30.0 | And I've written it up for the Telegraph website. |
| 1:32.1 | You can see that online. |
| 1:33.5 | It's also going to be in the paper. |
| 1:35.9 | Basically, this is a fiasco that has seen a US citizen claim asylum in the UK, have his claim rejected, but remain here being funded |
| 1:51.4 | by the taxpayer because border control don't seem to be able to get their act together |
| 1:58.7 | to remove him. |
| 1:59.8 | That's it in summary. |
| 2:00.7 | But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Yes. We're talking here about a 27-year-old. their act together to remove him. That's it in summary. |
| 2:02.5 | But that's just the tip of the iceberg. |
| 2:03.1 | Yes. |
... |
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