Hundreds of asylum seekers arrested in nationwide crackdown on illegal working
A total of 1,780 people were stopped and spoken to at locations across the UK over suspected illegal working activity between July 20 and 27.
Some 280 were arrested as a result, in areas including Hillingdon in north-west London, Dumfries in Scotland, and Birmingham, the Home Office said.
Some 89 of those 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now having their asylum support reviewed, which the government said could result in their support being suspended or withdrawn.
The Home Office described the operation as a 'nationwide intensification week' targeting illegal working hotspots, with a focus on the gig economy and people working as delivery riders.
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.
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. '
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.
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'.
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.
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.
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.
Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat have also said they will ramp up facial verification and fraud checks over the coming months to prevent people working as riders without permission.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
27 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Championship club WINS race to sign Brandon Williams – as former Manchester United star bids to rebuild his career
Hull City appear to have won the race for Brandon Williams. Earlier this week, Daily Mail Sport revealed that the former Manchester United starlet was being chased by clubs in the Championship and overseas. Interest had been piqued by Williams' form and attitude during a trial spell at Hull City. However, it can now be disclosed that the Tigers look to have won the race for the talented left back, with a medical due in East Yorkshire next week. Williams burst onto the scene at Old Trafford, making his debut at just 19 and winning rave reviews for his tenacity. He has been without a club for a year since the expiration of his contract at Old Trafford. Williams burst onto the scene at Manchester United making his debut at just 19 Williams made 21 Premier League appearances for United, and had loan spells at Ipswich Town and Norwich City. Earlier this year he expressed his desire to restart his career after being handed a suspended jail sentence for a 99mph car crash. Williams admitted charges of dangerous driving and driving without insurance.
Times
27 minutes ago
- Times
Alex Salmond and the truth behind our fallout, by Nicola Sturgeon
In the dining room of my house in Glasgow on April 4, 2018, with just him and me across a table, Alex showed me a copy of the letter he had received from the Scottish government's permanent secretary, Leslie Evans, informing him of the complaints against him. The substance of the complaints, one in particular, shocked me. I felt sick. After appearing to be upset and mortified by the allegations, Alex became cold. He effectively admitted the substance of one of the complaints, but claimed that it had been a 'misunderstanding', for which he had apologised at the time. He made it obvious that he considered the whole process to be illegitimate. He would later claim differently, of course, but it was evident that he wanted me to intervene and to stop the investigation in its tracks or divert it into some kind of siding. I knew that I shouldn't do that. I didn't realise it then, but this decision made the break-up of one of the most successful partnerships in modern British politics all but inevitable. On the day before the Scottish government was due to publish the facts and outcome of the investigation, the story was leaked to the Daily Record. I do not know who leaked it, but it was not me or anyone acting with my authority or knowledge. It crossed my mind many times that it might have been Alex himself or someone acting on his behalf. To those with no experience of the dark arts of media manipulation, I know this will sound preposterous. However, in many ways it would have been classic Alex. I had known him to make these kinds of calculations in the past. If there is damaging information certain to emerge about you and there is nothing you can do to stop it, get it out in a way that gives you the best chance of controlling the narrative. At a stroke, he was able to cast himself as the victim of underhand dealing. As soon as the fact of the complaints had become public, Alex launched a judicial review of the process. As the government's defence was being prepared, it came to light that the investigating officer had engaged in conversations with the complainants prior to her appointment. There was no evidence that the investigating officer had been biased, but the Scottish government had no option but to abandon the case. • Nicola Sturgeon: 'I came perilously close to a breakdown' In Alex's narrative, he wasn't just a victim any more, he was now a vindicated victim. It was also at this point that his animus towards me was cemented. He was reportedly furious that I hadn't demanded the resignation of Leslie Evans. Leslie was the head of the civil service that had 'botched' the process. It was not unreasonable to say that the buck stopped with her. But I knew that, for him, Leslie's resignation was not about accountability. It was about vengeance. He wanted her punished for allowing him to be investigated in the first place. He would then have used her quitting as further 'proof' that he had been a victim all along. When evidence was disclosed in both the aborted judicial review action and his criminal trial in March 2020, a number of text and WhatsApp messages were revealed to him, some between women complainers and others involving SNP staff members. He spun these as evidence of people conspiring to bring him down, rather than simply what they were — messages between individuals who had loyally supported him over many years expressing deep upset at the nature of the allegations against him. In addition, women who considered themselves victims of his behaviour were seeking support and comfort from each other. That he tried to distort and weaponise genuine expressions of shock, in some cases trauma, was truly disgraceful, and it strikes at the heart of why I find it so hard to forgive him. A conspiracy against Alex would have needed a number of women deciding to concoct false allegations, without any obvious motive for doing so. It would then have required criminal collusion between them, senior ministers and civil servants, the police and the Crown. That is what he was alleging. The 'conspiracy' was a fabrication, the invention of a man who wasn't prepared to reflect honestly on his own conduct. This is what I found hardest to come to terms with. He was acquitted of criminal behaviour, but in the course of his defence a picture emerged of behaviour towards women that, on occasion, had been inappropriate. He seemed content during his trial to concede this, to persuade a jury that while he could have been a 'better man', he wasn't guilty of actual offences. What he never did was show any contrition. There was also never the merest hint of concern about the damage he did to the party he previously led. Indeed, it felt to me that he would have rather destroyed the SNP than see it succeed without him. He impugned the integrity of the institutions at the heart of Scottish democracy — government, police, Crown Office. He was prepared to traumatise, time and again, the women at the centre of it all. After the reports of the two inquiries into mine and the Scottish government's handling of the matter had been published, I spoke personally to the two original complainants. I was the first minister during a Scottish government process that had let these women down. It was important to me to say sorry to them directly. It also let me hear first-hand the impact on them of the claims of conspiracy, and the scars they bear as a consequence. For a while I told myself that the bonds between Alex and me would be stronger than his thirst for revenge. Eventually, though, I had to face the fact that he was determined to destroy me. I was now engaged in mortal political combat with someone I knew to be both ruthless and highly effective. It was a difficult reality to reconcile myself to. So too was losing him as a friend. I went through what I can only describe as a grieving process. For a time after we stopped speaking I would have conversations with him in my head about politics and the issues of the day. I had occasional, vivid dreams in which we were still on good terms. I would wake up from these feeling utterly bereft. And now? Before he died, I thought I had reached the point of feeling nothing and that I had come to terms with it, wholly and completely. The emotions I felt on hearing of his death suggested otherwise. Yes, I have made peace with how things are, but it is an uneasy peace. I know I will never quite escape the shadow he casts, even in death. © Nicola Sturgeon 2025. Extracted from Frankly by Nicola Sturgeon (Macmillan £28), published on Thursday. To order a copy go to Free UK standard P&P on orders over £25. Special discount available for Times+ members. Nicola Sturgeon discusses her memoir with Cathy Newman at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, London SE1, on August 29;
Times
40 minutes ago
- Times
At least 200 arrests at Palestine Action protest outside parliament
Police have arrested at least 200 protesters gathered in central London to support Palestine Action, the activist group banned as a terrorist organisation. More than 500 people flooded Parliament Square in Westminster as Big Ben struck 1pm to hold up handwritten placards stating: 'I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.' Rows of officers filed into the square to handcuff protesters within a minute of the silent vigil commencing. The first arrests were near the statues of Millicent Fawcett, the feminist campaigner, and Mahatma Gandhi, the Indian independence leader. Officers were met with chants of 'Shame on you' and 'genocide police' as they moved in. Many elderly activists quietly sat in the centre of the square to await their fate while a group of bystanders started singing the hymn 'We shall overcome'. Defend Our Juries, which organised Saturday's protest, claimed that as many as 700 people had turned out to risk arrest. However, this figure could not be corroborated by police. Among the protesters was La Pethick, 89, a retired psychotherapist from near Hastings, Sussex. She said she was 'apprehensive' about being detained but had the 'full support' of her five grandchildren. 'We are having our right to peaceful protest being taken away,' Pethick said. 'We have a common fear that there is a genocide going on [in Gaza] against international law.' Claudia Cotton, 89, a retired social worker who lives in London, is a Jewish refugee from Stuttgart who left Germany with her parents in 1939. Around her shoulders was a red keffiyeh scarf and she held a handwritten sign that read: 'I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.' She said: 'I am prepared to be arrested. In fact, I think it's a good thing because it shows how ordinary people are willing to go to prison to oppose when governments are doing evil things.' Cotton said it was her first time being arrested. 'Words fail me how the British government can do nothing when thousands of civilians are being killed.' The arrest of one protester required 12 officers as he was led away to a police van. Other demonstrators had to be lifted by four officers as they turned 'floppy' when they were confronted. Moazzam Begg, 57, the former Guantanamo Bay inmate, was arrested just before 2.30pm, holding a pro-Palestine Action placard in one hand and a yellow rose in another. He was surrounded by supporters of Cage, the controversial advocacy group that previously described Mohammed Emwazi, the Isis executioner known as Jihadi John, as 'a beautiful young man'. Just before he was detained, Begg said: 'This isn't about Palestine Action. This isn't about being arrested. It's about the children of Gaza, it's about the men of Gaza, it's about the women of Gaza and it's about a genocidal state.' He described being held as 'an honour'. Unlike previous protests since the ban of Palestine Action, which were dominated by middle-class white activists, Saturday's demonstration featured a small contingent of Muslim participants. One group of Muslim women who were not holding incriminating placards walked around the square thanking those who were risking arrest. By 2.30pm officers had formed a cordon around 200-300 activists sitting in the centre of Parliament Square as a police helicopter circled overhead. The restriction, under Section 3 of the Criminal Law Act, allows everyone inside to be detained. The police entered the cordon to arrest activists one by one. Journalists were blocked from entering. The Metropolitan Police has just over 500 cells at its disposal, many of which will already be occupied. However, officers can take the details of a suspect at the scene of a crime and order them to attend a police station in a practice known as 'street bail'. Bianca Jagger, the human rights campaigner and former wife of Sir Mick Jagger, attended the event but held a different placard which is unlikely to lead to her being detained. 'Matter of conscience' Some of those taking part in the demonstration have been held at previous protests against the Home Office ban, which came into effect on July 5. They include Dr Alice Clack, 49, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, who remains on bail after being arrested at a smaller protest in Parliament Square on July 19. Clack, the granddaughter of a Jewish refugee who came to Britain on the Kindertransport, said she was attending Saturday's protest as a 'matter of conscience'. She added: 'In Gaza, we are witnessing not just the indiscriminate use of force against civilians, but also the targeting of hospitals and clinics, and the killing and intimidation of medical staff.' It was, she said, a 'gross abuse of state power' for the government to label Palestine Action a terrorist organisation. The direct action group has waged a campaign of attacks for many months on defence companies in Britain that it accuses of being complicit in Israel's military operations in Gaza. It was proscribed by Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, after activists broke into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and caused £7 million damage by spraying red paint into the engines of two Voyager aircraft. • A history of Palestine Action: from birth to ban The Home Office insisted on Saturday morning that it was not seeking to criminalise dissent over Gaza. A spokeswoman said: 'The home secretary has been clear that the proscription of Palestine Action is not about Palestine, nor does it affect the freedom to protest on Palestinian rights. It only applies to the specific and narrow organisation whose activities do not reflect or represent the thousands of people across the country who continue to exercise their fundamental rights to protest on different issues. 'Freedom to protest is a cornerstone of our democracy and we protect it fiercely.' The mass protest in Parliament Square against the ban coincides with a march to Downing Street by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. That event, which several thousand people were expected to attend, departed from Russell Square at noon and ended with a rally in Whitehall. The simultaneous demonstrations will stretch the Met. As well as deploying hundreds of its officers, it has called in at least 110 police from other forces under 'mutual aid' rules. They include officers from constabularies in South Wales, Greater Manchester, Humberside, Cheshire and Durham. Welsh police at the demonstration TOBY SHEPHEARD FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES Groups behind the protest Defend Our Juries, a civil liberties campaign group, has previously backed climate change activists at court trials. One of its key figures is Tim Crosland, an Oxford-educated barrister who was disbarred in 2023 for disclosing an embargoed Supreme Court ruling on a third runway at Heathrow before it was officially meant to be published. Crosland, 55, previously worked as a lawyer at the National Crime Agency, described as Britain's equivalent of the FBI. The protest has also been promoted by the advocacy group Cage. Begg, one of its senior directors, has said the ban on Palestine Action 'must be opposed', adding: 'The government is criminalising the people of Britain for standing up against the biggest genocide of the 21st century as it is livestreamed from Gaza.' More than 200 people, including an 83-year-old retired priest from Bristol, have been arrested at smaller demonstrations. Most of them have been detained under section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000. This relates to 'wearing clothing or carrying or displaying articles in public in such a way as to arouse reasonable suspicion that the individual is a member or supporter of a proscribed organisation'. On Thursday, the first of these suspects, including two pensioners, both 71, were formally charged. The Met said case files on 26 other individuals arrested at the same protest in Westminster on July 5 would be sent to the Crown Prosecution Service soon. Ade Adelekan, a deputy assistant commissioner at the Met, said: 'What sets this protest apart from others is participants are coming out not just to express a view, but with the aim of being arrested in very large numbers to place a strain on the police and the wider criminal justice system.' The highest number of arrests previously made by the Met at the same protest is thought to be 339 at the poll tax riots in 1990. The force detained 306 people in one day during Extinction Rebellion demonstrations in London in October 2019. Saturday's mass protest had the blessing of Huda Ammori, 31, a co-founder of Palestine Action. On July 30, a High Court judge granted her leave to bring a full judicial review of the Home Office ban. The case will be heard in November. The Home Office said: 'The decision to proscribe was based on strong security advice and the unanimous recommendation by the expert cross-government proscription review group. This followed serious attacks the group has committed, involving violence, significant injuries and extensive criminal damage. It also followed an assessment from the Joint Terrorism Assessment Centre that Palestine Action prepares for terrorism, as well as worrying information referencing plans and ideas for further attacks, the details of which cannot yet be publicly reported due to ongoing legal proceedings.'
