Home Office to deport 60 delivery drivers after mass immigration crackdown | News UK

Dozens of food delivery drivers are being deported after being found working without the required documentation.

More than 170 riders were arrested during an immigration crackdown by the Home Office last month.

Those deported include two workers at a Chinese restaurant in Solihull, four riders from India and Bangladesh who were arrested in Newham, East London and two Indian workers from Norwich.

The latest move comes as ministers have met with Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats to discuss how they are tackling illegal work on their platforms.

They are being encouraged to ramp up measures including randomised facial recognition checks and are being provided with data including the location of asylum hotels in order to properly vet applicants.

New legislation will close a loophole exempting casual or temporary workers from having to prove their status.

Employers who fail to carry out the required checks risk a £60,000 fine for each illegal worker found on their premises, up to five years in prison and their business being closed.

Data shows that 8,232 workers were arrested after being caught working illegally in the year up to September, a 63 per cent increase on the previous 12-month period.

Alex Norris, the border security minister, said: ‘These results should send a clear message: if you are working illegally in this country, you will be arrested and removed.

‘As well as delivering record levels of enforcement, we are tightening the law to clamp down on illegal working in the delivery sector to root out this criminality from our communities.

‘This action is part of the most sweeping changes to illegal migration in modern times to reduce the incentives that draw illegal migrations here and scale up removals.’

Some £300 million has also been recovered in criminal assets over the past year as the Government vows to crack down on ‘dirty money’ on the High Street.

The latest push comes in the wake of Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s drive to bring down migration figures by reforming the asylum system and toughening citizenship rules.

Under the new regime, asylum applicants, if successful, will be granted leave to remain in the UK subject to regular review and only for as long as their country is deemed unsafe.

People will also have to wait longer before being able to apply for indefinite leave and citizenship, with both processes being accelerated for those who better ‘integrate’ within the UK, such as by learning English and volunteering in the community.

In the last few months, ministers have looked to Denmark, where up to 95 per cent of asylum seekers are turned away, as a model of how immigration figures can be brought under control.

However the plans have also attracted criticism from some MPs concerned they will impede Britain’s ability to fulfil its human rights obligations.

Larbi Neron, a BAME rights officer at the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain, said that latest Home Office arrests were to ‘victimise’ migrant workers and sow division in communities.

‘From our experience these stops are almost exclusively aimed at the black, brown, and migrant workers who make up the vast majority of the workforce, regardless of their immigration status’, she told the Standard.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

MORE: Albanian rapist serving jail in UK is wanted for robbery carried out on family home

MORE: The new UK passport lands today — and there’s one major design change

MORE: Council terminates tree surgeon’s contract after he put up British flags