LONDON: The UK government has released a video showing the deportation of migrants for the first time, marking the removal of nearly 19,000 foreign criminals and illegal migrants since Labour took office.
Days after US President Donald Trump’s government crackdown on immigration, the United Kingdom’s Labour government also launched mass raids on illegal working in the country.
Described as a “UK-wide blitz,” the crackdown has extended to Indian restaurants, nail bars, convenience stores, and car washes, which employ migrant workers.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said her department’s Immigration Enforcement teams had a record-breaking January, descending on 828 premises a 48 per cent rise compared to the previous January, with arrests surging to 609, a 73 per cent increase from the previous year.
A visit to one Indian restaurant in Humberside, northern England, alone led to seven arrests and four detentions.
This comes as the Labour Party government’s Border Security, Asylum, and Immigration Bill returns to Parliament for its second reading this week.
The new legislation aims to “smash the criminal gangs” that Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s administration says undermine border security.
A total of 1,090 civil penalty notices have been issued during that phase, with employers facing a fine of up to GBP 60,000 per worker if found liable.
In January, the government claimed to have smashed its target to drive the removal of foreign criminals and immigration offenders to the highest level since 2018, with 16,400 people removed since the July 2024 general election.