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EXPOSED: HOW HOME OFFICE TRACK DOWN MIGRANTS

 

The UK Home Office is offering the assistance of its immigration officers to private corporations in an attempt criticized as a rise of the “hostile environment” policy.

 

As observed in the internal documents, the Home Office is trying to push in immigration officers at a rate of over £55 per hour for “enhanced checking service” being presented to public facilities, which may include NHS trusts and local establishments, as well as private organisations.

 

The businesses are proposed “real-time” path to data about an individual’s immigration position via an “on-site immigration official”, who can be requested to appear for interviews and persuade hiding illegal migrants to leave the UK voluntarily. The on-site immigration official will also forward the information of unrecorded illegal migrants to immigration enforcement officials.

 

There were pleas for the UK Home Office to disclose how many UK Home Office Officials had so far been positioned and to specify a list of corporations that had been a part of this setup.

 

Migrants’ rights specialists cautioned that the on-site immigration official service was the newest illustration of the authority “trying to embed immigration checks in every aspect of life in the UK”. They further cautioned that such arrangements destabilized the faith of the community and jeopardized disheartening migrants from attaining facilities that they badly required.

 

A report titled “official – sensitive” exposes the Home Office depleted at just less than 2 years examining “the benefits of placing immigration officials in a number of organisations”

 

The Report mentions “Ensuring that immigration status checks are carried out before an individual obtaining benefit or services is an important part of making sure illegal migrants cannot use public services to which they are not entitled, encounter a compliant environment which encourages [voluntary] departure and limit the harm they cause to the taxpayer,”.

 

We at present have a core offer of free (mainly online) guidance and checking services to private and public sector organisations. The majority of these extensive free services aim to provide a response within two to five working days. However, they do not always meet the needs of our customers.

 

“Over the last 18 months we have tested the benefits of placing immigration officials in a number of organisations … This service can be shaped as required, but it centres on an immigration official being located within an organisation.”

 

The Home Office stated the programme had been in action from 2016 and had been offered to “partner organisations, including local authorities and private sector organisations”. It is very likely that the service has also been offered to NHS trusts. The department mentioned that 13 officers were already positioned under the programme.

 

David Lammy, the Tottenham Labour MP, stated: “Sajid Javid proclaimed he had stopped the adverse environment in July 2018, but this demonstrates it is being escalated.

 

“The Home Office should come clean about the information of this secretive scheme, and clarify how it validates spending £58.20 an hour to fill our hospitals and councils with border guards.”

 

Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, said: “This Tory government is not misleading anyone by renaming their hostile environment policies as a ‘compliant environment’. By attaining data in this way the Home Office is forming disbelief in our public services, and risks discouraging defenseless families from gain access to essential support.”

 

A Home Office representative said: “We are pledged to a reasonable and humane immigration policy which greets individuals here lawfully, but which challenges illegal immigration and blocks misuse of benefits and services. On-site immigration officials deliver backing to associates to assist their perception of the immigration system and can handle status checks at the request of a local authority to safeguard those that are qualified for support are getting it.”