By Mike Sheridan
Immigration enforcement teams from the Home Office say they conducted a major operation on Smethwick High Street in response to “intelligence” on a major collection point for people suspected of going to work illegally, primarily on construction sites.
According to a statement from the Home Office, officers encountered 73 individuals, arresting 26 suspected “immigration offenders” including 24 Indian nationals, one Nepalese national and one Italian national.
The home office says the operation, conducted last month, led to the detention of 11 Indian nationals.
The move comes as the Government prepares to launch a “nationwide crackdown” on what it says are “illegal working hotspots”, with a focus on the gig economy and people working as delivery riders.
A total of 748 illegal working civil penalty notices were handed to businesses caught violating immigration rules in the first quarter of this year, marking the highest level since 2016. The Government says this is an 81% increase compared to the same time last year.
Any business found to be illegally employing someone could face a fine of up to 拢60,000 per worker, director disqualifications and potential prison sentences of up to five years.
“Illegal working undermines honest business and undercuts local wages – the British public will not stand for it and neither will this government,” said Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.
“Often those travelling to the UK illegally are sold a lie by the people smuggling gangs that they will be able to live and work freely in this country, when in reality they end up facing squalid living conditions, minimal pay and inhumane working hours.
“We are surging enforcement action against this pull factor, on top of returning 30,000 people with no right to be here and tightening the law through our Plan for Change.
“But there is no single solution to the problem of illegal migration. That鈥檚 why we鈥檝e signed landmark agreements with international partners to dismantle gangs and made significant arrests of notorious people smugglers.”
Last week, representatives from the Home Office and Department for Business and Trade met with major delivery firms in an effort to strengthen security checks to tackle “illegal working” practices.
Delivery firms Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat have committed to increasing the number of daily facial recognition checks riders are required to take to verify their identity.