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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.
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.”
Amir Neziraj, says they’ve learned their lesson after being fined £30,000 for employing illegal workers.
‘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…
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