Just one in eight migrants arrested for working illegally has been deported, new figures show.
Of the 8,000 people arrested in the Home Office‘s Immigration Enforcement raids in the last year, only 1,050 have been removed from the UK.
Labour said the figure marked the largest enforcement crackdown on illegal working since records began.
But it means less than 15 per cent of migrants caught working illegally have been deported.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said today: ‘Illegal working creates an incentive for people attempting to arrive in this country illegally. No more.
‘Those found to be illegally working in beauty salons, car washes and as delivery drivers will be arrested, detained and removed from this country.
‘I will do whatever it takes to secure Britain’s borders.’
The announcement comes days after sex offender Hadush Kebatu was mistakenly released from Chelmsford Prison rather than deported to his native Ethiopia, while more than 36,000 people have crossed the English Channel in small boats since the start of the year.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said record numbers of illegal workers had been deported – but that only amounted to around one in eight of those arrested
But the Home Office said arrests had increased around 63 percent on the previous year, after £5 million was invested in the crackdown to arrest and deport those working illegally in takeaways, beauty salons and car washes.
It comes as the Government is expanding right to work checks.
While it is a criminal offence for migrants to work illegally, only companies using traditional employer-to-employee contracts are obliged to verify someone’s immigration status and whether it permits them to work in the UK.
The new laws close this loophole so there will be no hiding place for illegal workers who flout the rules in the gig, casual, subcontracted and temporary worker economy, the Home Office said.
Bosses who fail to conduct these checks could be jailed for up to five years, face a fine or have their business closed.
The Government said it is working with the likes of Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats to strengthen checks in a bid to prevent asylum seekers working illegally as delivery drivers.
It follows reports of small boat migrants based in asylum hotels illegally working, often in the gig economy, while their claim is being processed.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced last month plans to introduce digital ID.
The cards are expected to be required for ‘right to work’ checks by the end of this Parliament in 2029.
Critics have called his plan, first touted and then dropped by Sir Tony Blair when he was in office, a ‘cynical ploy’ designed to ‘fool’ voters into thinking something is being done about immigration.
MPs from Reform, the Tories and the Lib Dems are also opposed to the plans.
