Illegal workers arrested in raids on nail salons, restaurants

Illegal workers  arrested in raids on nail  salons, restaurants.
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Home Office Illegal workers -  their faces blurred -  leave a car wash in south  London at the Home Office
The raids were carried out across the country - including a car wash in south London
Hundreds of migrants were arrested in January as part of a UK-wide crackdown on illegal  work, the government  said.
Law enforcement teams raided 828  premises, including nail  salons, car  washes and  restaurants, and made 609  arrests, a  73 per cent increase  since last January.
Home Secretary Dame Angela Eagle told the BBC  that the decision to release footage of the arrests was  intended to send a message about the  reality of  illegal work and defended the government's approach as  "compassionate".
Later on Monday, MPs will debate the government's immigration bill. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp called it  "a weak bill that won't stop the  ships." Vape shops in Cheshire and a  food warehouse in south London  are among the  locations raided.
Those arrested  travelled to the UK  via various routes, including  across the Channel and  under their legitimate visas.
Despite a landslide election victory seven months ago, Labour strategists are increasingly  concerned about losing  pro-immigration voters to  the Reform  Party in the next  election.
Analysis by Chris Mason: Ministers want to  get tough on immigration
Party figures believe that  simply describing the arrests and deportations is not enough  - hence the decision to release footage of  the arrests today, allowing people to see  for themselves.
But other Labor members fear that  the emphasis on illegal immigration  will only  increase the  importance of an issue  on which they  cannot and will never  take as  tough an approach as  the Reform Party. Some Labour MPs, particularly on the left of the party, believe the government should do more to  create safe and legal routes for people to come to the UK and  to promote the benefits of  immigration.
Speaking on BBC Radio  4's Today programme, Dame Angela was asked  whether the release of footage of the raids  was in line with Sir Keir  Starmer's previous pledge to create an immigration system  "based on compassion and  dignity".
"I don't believe for one minute that enforcing the law and  making sure people who break the law face the  consequences, right down to deportation, arrest, is not  compassionate," she  said.
She added that  "it's important that we show what  we're doing and  it's important that we send  a message to people who may have been sold lies about what will  happen to them in the UK if they  smuggle themselves."
The government also  aims to reduce the number of hotels  hosting asylum seekers, Dame Angela  said. Speaking to BBC Breakfast on Monday,  he said there were plans to close nine of the 218 hotels currently in use by the end of  March.
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Car wash and beauty  industries to be targeted over immigration
Illegal nail  salon jobs  on offer despite  crackdown
Since the start of the Labour government in July to  January 31, 3,930 arrests  have been made  in 5,424 visits by immigration officers, the Home Office  said.
A total of 1,090 civil penalty notices  have also  been issued, with employers facing  fines of up to £60,000 per worker if found  liable.
During the same period, four of the  "largest repatriation flights in  UK history" also  took place, the Home Office said,  sending back more than 800  people.
But the UK's Reform  leader, Nigel  Farage, described the new figures released by the government as  low compared  to the  number of people entering the  country. In the 31 days  to January, 1,098 people arrived  illegally in the UK  in small  boats.
The government said it launched a social media campaign in Vietnam in December and Albania in January  to discourage people from making the journey to the  UK.
The adverts highlight stories  of migrants who entered the UK illegally  "only to face debt, exploitation and a life far  removed from what they were  promised", the Home Office  said.
Dame Angela said  the campaign was  launched to counter  "quite sophisticated  adverts" placed online by people  smugglers who "lie about the situation in Britain, about how easy it is to  find work".
People who  arrive in the UK illegally are  "more likely to  live in squalid  conditions and be exploited by  evil gangs", she  said. The government's Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill will be debated in the House of Commons  at its second  reading.
The bill aims to introduce a  series of new offences and  counter-terrorism-style powers to  crack down on people smugglers  who smuggle migrants across the  Channel.
But Labour ministers have not  given a specific target  for reducing the number of boat  crossings.
The Conservatives said they had  tabled an amendment to the immigration bill to include their immigration proposals:  doubling the time it takes  for migrants to get indefinite leave to remain  and then forcing them to wait five years  instead of one before they can apply for  citizenship.
Philp added that  there needs to be "an effective deterrent  to deportations" to stop  the crossing of small  boats, a measure he said  Labor abandoned over the former government's plan to send illegal  immigrants to Rwanda.

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