Three vans roll out of a car park in Croydon. Inside, South London’s immigration enforcement team have a list of targets. Their role is to arrest illegal workers.
We’ve been invited because the Home Office is keen to promote an increase in arrests in the 18 months since the Labour government came to power – up 83%.
But will this have an impact on the government’s aim to crack down on illegal migration?
The first stop is a car wash in Lewisham. A business that has previously employed illegal workers. The team has intelligence they are doing so again.
On arrival it’s raining, there is no car washing and just two employees sit in the dry. Both are Romanian and their employment status is legitimate.
The boss, Amir Neziraj, says they’ve learned their lesson after being fined £30,000 a few years ago.
He explains that, at that time, the rogue employees used fake passports.
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He added: “Obviously now you’ve got all the online stuff. You can check people’s status. I don’t want to be racking up fines. We are fully legit.”
He tells the immigration officers: “You can always come and have a look guys.”
‘Both the workers are illegal’
We move on to the next target, a nail bar in Catford.
The team make visits based on intelligence, which could come from the Home Office, trading standards, police officers or members of the public. It is suspected that the beauty salon is employing illegal Chinese workers.
The shop is on a pedestrianised high street and on our arrival two Chinese women are conducting treatments on clients.
That soon comes to a stop as the officers interview them through interpreters on the other end of a phone. After checking Home Office records, the team establishes both workers are illegal.
Operation Lead Sarah Allen tells me: “Ultimately, what we’re seeking to do is remove people from the UK, those not entitled to be here and not entitled to work in the UK.
“Sometimes we’re able to do that very quickly. Other times we need to make sure that we put people on bail, keep them in contact with us so that we can help them and support them through any application process to remove them.”
Often these workers are being exploited, trafficked or sold an image of the UK that doesn’t reflect the reality. Many are just trying to get back while being stuck in a backlogged system.
Immigration officers will only detain people if they can determine the individual can be removed from the country relatively quickly. Often there are barriers.
The two Chinese illegal workers are arrested but allowed to walk free on what is called immigration bail.
‘We’ve got to keep going at this’
Home Office Minister Mike Tapp, who joined the raid, says even if they can’t be deported, the arrests are still worthwhile.
He told me: “They will have to report in – so we’ve got that closer control of these people. There’s also the process that they’ve got to go through.
“When we came in, that whole processing in the system had ground to a halt, that backlog is down. We’ve reduced those cases by 39%.
“So, we’ve got to keep going at this. There’s still a long way to go. But today is an important demonstration of how seriously we’re taking this.”
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There have been 12,300 arrests for illegal working since this government came to power. So far 15% of those have been removed from the UK. Those on immigration bail could face fines for working illegally but the big financial penalties are often for the employers – which can now amount to £60,000 per illegal worker.
Ultimately the aim is to send a message that there is no black market economy available to illegal migrants and thus reduce the pull-factor for those considering the journey.
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The Home Office has released videos of arrests made across the country, but from our experience in South London, intelligence isn’t always accurate; one premises we attempted to raid was closed for the day.
Ultimately in one morning, with a large team, there were only two arrests, and they were released.
