Crackdown on asylum seekers taking jobs for delivery firms sees just 280 arrests after week-long operation
Police have arrested hundreds of asylum seekers taking jobs for delivery firms as part of a week long crackdown across the UK.
A total of 1,780 people were stopped and spoken to as part of the operation, described as a ‘nationwide intensification week’, targeting illegal working hotspots across the UK between July 20 and 27.
Of these, around 280 were arrested in areas including Hillingdon in north-west London, Dumfries in Scotland, and Birmingham.
Some 89 have been detained pending removal from the country and 53 are now having their asylum support reviewed, which the Government said could result in their support being suspended or withdrawn.
As well as the arrests, 51 businesses including car washes and restaurants were issued with penalty notices that could see them handed hefty fines if they are found to have hired people without the right to work in the UK.
Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat have pledged to ramp up facial verification and fraud checks over the coming months to prevent people illegally working as riders without permission from Government.
Asylum seekers in the UK are normally barred from work while their claim is being processed, though permission can be applied for after a year of waiting.
Border security minister Dame Angela Eagle said: ‘Illegal working undermines our border security and we’re cracking down hard on it. That’s why we have intensified our enforcement activity right across the UK to crack down on those who think they can evade immigration and employment laws in the UK.’
Police and immigration enforcement officers question an Uber and Deliveroo driver in Wood Green, north London, as part of the government’s nationwide delivery driver crackdown
An L-Plate moped delivery driver seen at Wood Green, North London, in March this year
Border security minister Dame Angela Eagle (pictured) said the Government is ‘cracking down hard’ on illegal working across the UK
Eddy Montgomery, enforcement director at the Home Office, said officers were taking action ‘around the clock’ against ‘those who think they can get away with working illegally’.
Officials had indicated there would be an increase in work to target areas of suspected activity, as ministers hope to tackle the ‘pull factors’ attracting migrants to the UK.
Immigration enforcement teams will receive £5 million from the £100 million in funding already announced for border security, aimed at increasing visits by officers in these areas over the coming months, it said.
It comes after the Government announced it would share information about asylum hotel locations with food delivery firms in a bid to disrupt such hotspots.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the Conservatives wanted to strip asylum seekers of their status and deport them, if they work illegally, and claimed ‘this story has only happened’ because he ‘exposed what Labour refused to see’.
He described one hotel housing asylum seekers as a ‘black-market, courier hub in plain sight’, referring to food delivery riders he had seen allegedly operating out of the site without permission.
‘Labour are now boasting about arrests, but we know they are too scared to actually deport anyone,’ Mr Philp continued.
‘People breaking the law are still being put up in hotels and handed benefits. It’s a racket and Labour are letting it run.’
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp found fast food delivery bicycles ouitside a central London asylum hotel last month
A large number of delivery driver bikes were found parked outside the hotel despite a ban on asylum seekers working
The Tory politician visited an asylum hotel in central London and posted a video showing bicycles fitted with delivery boxes for Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats parked outside.
Days later, the Home Office said it had called in all three companies for a dressing down – and the meeting led to pledges to increase the use of ‘facial recognition’ systems on rider apps, such as those used by banks to confirm someone’s identity.
However, Deliveroo was refused access to hotel location data despite assurances it would be treated confidentially, the Times reported.
Shadow Home Office minister Katie Lam said at the time: ‘The fact that the Home Office is refusing to help them just shows how topsy-turvy this country’s approach to migration has become.
‘Crossing the Channel illegally is a crime. Working here illegally is a crime.
‘Too many people are brazenly breaking the rules and it’s a disgrace that the Home Office is aiding and abetting them.’
