THE Home Secretary has vowed to ramp up the arrests of illegal workers – as she joined teams on the frontline of Britain’s immigration crackdown.
Yvette Cooper teamed up with officers as they swooped on a Kent travellers’ site targeting migrants suspected of working illegally as delivery riders.
AlamyHome Secretary Yvette Cooper[/caption]
Deliveroo rideralamy
But the suspects gave her the slip – with officers arriving to find they had already moved on.
It comes as ministers ramp up a nationwide crackdown on gig economy abuse after The Sun exposed how migrants are working illegally as delivery riders while claiming taxpayer-funded support.
Immigration Enforcement teams are now preparing to launch a fresh blitz across known hotspots, focusing on migrants suspected of working while living in free accommodation or receiving financial help.
The law already allows asylum seekers to lose taxpayer-funded housing or payments if they are caught working illegally.
But Ms Cooper will introduce new powers to toughen the rules and make it easier to cut off support when migrants abuse the system.
The Government’s new Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill will also force gig economy giants like Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat to carry out proper right-to-work checks on every rider to close loopholes and stop abuse.
Ms Cooper told The Sun: “These raids are part of a new intensive focus on the illegal working with delivery drivers and delivery riders, which is just a shocking abuse that is taking place, and we are determined to make sure that those rules are properly enforced.”
Earlier this week, 20 Indian nationals were arrested in London during a raid on suspected cash-in-hand builders using illegally modified e-bikes.
Further operations in the West Midlands and East of England have led to dozens more arrests in recent weeks.
Director of Enforcement, Compliance and Crime, Eddy Montgomery, also said: “This next step of co-ordinated activity will target those who seek to work illegally in the gig economy and exploit their status in the UK.
“That means if you are found to be working with no legal right to do so, we will bring the full force of powers available to us to disrupt and stop this abuse.
“There will no place to hide.”
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