Nationals from India, China and Bangladesh are among dozens of delivery riders facing deportation from the United Kingdom, according to a news story published on the official UK Government website today.
The story titled “Illegal delivery riders face removal following enforcement blitz” details that 171 individuals were arrested in the country in a week-long operation conducted last month. The Home Office’s Immigration Enforcement teams arrested these people after they were found to be working illegally across Britain. 60 of those arrested are expected to be removed from the UK.
Indians among those detained in UK – Crime reduction operations detailed
As part of UK’s immigration crackdown ‘Operation Equalize,’ recorded November arrests targeted Chinese-origin people working at a restaurant in Solihull, West Midlands, Bangladeshi and Indian delivery riders in Newham, east London, and Indian riders in Norwich, Norfolk.
The official government release states two Chinese nationals were arrested for illegal working at The Jade Wok restaurant in Solihull on November 15. They were on path to be deported from the UK.
Two days later, four delivery riders of Bangladeshi and Indian origin were detained for working illegally at the High Street in Newham. They will also be removed from the UK.
Thereafter, a crime reduction operation dated November 25 saw officers arresting three Indian nationals at Norwich City Centre. While two of these people are detained for removal, the third person is on strict immigration bail.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood oversaw one such operation focussed on detaining illegal workers in Streatham, south London. Additionally, the Home Office released a video footage, which captured officers arresting a man by his bike in the street. Another visual depicted authorities escorting a person into back of a van.
UK illegal immigration enforcement – Authorities pair up with delivery firms
As highlighted in the UK Government press release, the Home Office revealed that last month’s arrests come after officials led record-breaking levels of enforcement action to nab illegal workers across all sectors. The results were: 11,000 visits and 8,000 arrest, marking a 51% and 63% rise, respectively.
The official press release also indicated that nearly 50,000 people who were there in the UK illegally have been ousted since July 2024. Arrests, convictions and seizures related to people smuggling soared by 33% in the last 12 months.
In their efforts to make illegal immigration more threatening for foreign nationals, Border Security Minister Alex Norris partnered up with companies like Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber East to double down on vetting.
By doing so, firms stand committed to ramping up randomised facial recognition checks to cut down on illegal account sharing. Furthermore, the Home Office even agreed to sharing locations of asylum hotels with food delivery companies so that places that may have become hubs of illegal working could be monitored better.
“These results should send a clear message, if you are working illegally in this country, you will be arrested and removed,” border security minister Alex Norris said, as per the government press release.
“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.”
Earlier this week, a major new act, called the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, received Royal Assent in a bid to take down smuggling gangs that may be abusing UK borders for illegal migration. “This will see the introduction of new laws to expand right to work checks to the gig economy, including on delivery riders,” the press release added.
“The legislation will close existing loopholes so there will be no hiding place for illegal workers to flout the rules in gig, casual, subcontracted or temporary worker roles. Bosses who fail to conduct these checks could be jailed for up to 5 years, face fines of £60,000 per illegal worker and have their businesses closed.”
