The British government’s effort to clamp down on illegal immigration has led to the arrest of over 600 migrants in January, who were discovered to be in possession of fake documents.
These arrests were made following a series of raids by the enforcement agencies to various business entities including restaurants, takeaways, cafes, car washes, nail bars, and vape shops, across the country.
The Prime Minister Keir Starmer-led Labour government, who disclosed this on Monday, pointed out that this operation was a 73% increase compared to January last year, when the previous administration was in power.
In total, Labour said that more than 16,400 people have been deported since the election adding that this number is expected to go up later once new data is published.
These deportations, it stated included more than 800 people being off-shored aboard four chartered flights, alongside the 609 people arrested over 828 raids in January.
According to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, employers have been exploiting illegal migrants and people have been working illegally in the country without facing any consequences,
“Not only does this create a dangerous draw for people to risk their lives by crossing the Channel in a small boat, but it results in the abuse of vulnerable people, the immigration system and our economy ”
“That’s why, as part of our Plan for Change, we are boosting enforcement to record levels alongside tough new legislation to smash the criminal gangs that undermine our border security and who have been getting away with it for far too long,” she added.
Labour has been emphasizing border security since its election, recognizing that the topic is one of the most important to voters, and not wanting to lose ground to the Tories or Reform UK.
Upon entering government, Labour immediately scrapped the Rwanda deportation scheme championed by various Conservative prime ministers.
The roughly 1,000 transferred staff that had been working on the programme have instead been used to help with the enforcement of immigration rules.
Other measures the government has taken include launching adverts in Vietnam and Albania to dissuade potential migrants and working with other countries to try to prevent people from coming to the UK illegally.
