Fewer than one in six of more than 44,000 “intelligence-led” Home Office immigration enforcement raids on people’s homes since the introduction of the “hostile environment” policy have resulted in deportations, according to data obtained by the Guardian.
According to a freedom of information (FoI) response provided to the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants by the Home Office, between 2015 and 2019 there were 44,225 raids on private homes resulting in just 7,578 people deported. There were also 190 raids carried out on care homes resulting in just 37 care workers removed from the UK.
Mary Atkinson, campaigns officer at JCWI, said: “These figures show just how out of control the hostile environment has become. Carers are being arrested in the middle of their shifts, often as they look after elderly and vulnerable people – it is difficult to see who could possibly benefit from that. Ours is a government relentlessly pursuing an anti-immigration agenda, regardless of the harm it causes – in this case, to some of the very same carers whose hard work and sacrifice has been rightly applauded throughout this pandemic.
“It’s time the Home Office scrapped the hostile environment and prioritised keeping people safe, instead of perpetuating a cruel set of immigration laws which cause needless harm to our communities.”
According to the Home Office’s own guidance to immigration enforcement officials conducting raids, published in December 2020, when entering people’s homes: “You are entitled to be persistent but you must not be officious, rude or aggressive.”
Susan Cueva, trustee at Kanlungan Filipino Consortium, which works with migrants including those working in care homes said: “We know that care homes lack staff. The Home Office should stop raiding care homes. It is counter-productive. The solution is to regularise the immigration status of these workers who are carers. That’s the most practical way to deal with this situation.”
She said that if any undocumented workers were working in care homes they were more likely to be indirectly employed, but to come through other routes. This could be one reason why Home Office raids on care homes appear to have such a low success rate.
In September 2015 the Home Office carried out a number of raids on care workers who were then removed on a charter flight to Nigeria.
When raiding care homes many other agencies may be involved, including national care organisations, local authorities, adult social services and borough or constabulary police public protection units.
The Home Office has to inform Care Quality Commission in England and equivalent organisations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and need to advise ambulance, police and the local authority when they are planning to raid a care home. Alternative staffing needs to be arranged to cover for those arrested and if necessary care home residents have to be moved elsewhere.
“If at any stage of the operation owing to unforeseeable circumstances a resident of a care home or someone receiving care from an agency is likely to become left without necessary care, medication or facilities you must inform social services, commence critical incident procedures and contact the command and control unit,” the Home Office guidance states.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Immigration Enforcement operations including residential visits, play a critical role in reducing the harm caused by illegal immigration, such as modern slavery, people trafficking and smuggling.
“Tackling illegal working in the care sector is one of the Home Office’s main illegal working concerns – individuals have been consistently found to use false identities and documents to secure employment and bypass DBS checks, but may not have the skills, experience and qualifications they claim.”