Illegal working arrests have hit the ‘highest level in history’, the Home Secretary has announced, as more than 12,300 people were detained in Labour’s first 18 months.
It marked an 83 per cent increase on the number made in the previous year and a half.
The Home Office said the number of enforcement raids it carried out between the general election in July 2024 and December last year was 17,483, up 77 per cent on the previous period.
They led to 12,322 arrests for illegal working, compared with 6,725 in the previous 18 months.
But so far, only 1,725 of those arrested – one in seven – have been deported from Britain.
The Home Office said this was a 35 per cent increase on the 1,283 who had been removed as a result of raids in the previous year and a half.
It issued new footage of illegal working arrests being carried out at a nail bar in Belfast and a restaurant in east London, as well as another raid which took place in connection with migrants illegally working as delivery riders in Surrey.
It said other businesses to have been raided included car washes and barber shops.
Shabana Mahmood said immigration raids were at a historic high
The Home Office said there were 12,322 arrests for illegal working from July 2024 to the end of 2025, compared with 6,725 in the previous 18 months
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: ‘There is no place for illegal working in our communities.
‘That is why we have surged enforcement activity to the highest level in British history so illegal migrants in the black economy have nowhere to hide.
‘I will stop at nothing to restore order and control to our borders.’
A Home Office spokesman added that arrests were also at historic highs.
Raids took place across the country, they added.
Enforcement visits included one to a warehouse in Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, where there were 13 arrests made.
As a result, 11 individuals of Brazilian and Romanian nationality were detained for removal from the UK.
And last month, a raid on a construction site in Swindon, Wilts, led to 30 arrests of Indian and Albanian men.
The Home Office said ‘nearly all’ were detained for removal from the UK.
The department’s Immigration Enforcement are now equipped with body-worn video cameras, in a move designed to gather additional evidence which will bolster prosecutions.
Eddy Montgomery, director of the Home Office’s Immigration, Compliance and Enforcement unit, said: ‘We will continue to bear down on this criminality in our towns, cities and villages to ensure there is no hiding place from immigration laws.’
Chris Philp, the Shadow Home Secretary, said: ‘Illegal working is booming because Labour have turned Britain into a soft touch.
‘Working illegally is a criminal offence. If a foreign national commits that offence, they should be deported.
‘As long as people who arrive illegally can work, earn, and stay, smugglers have a sales pitch, a reward they dangle in front of those crossing the Channel. It fuels demand and undermines law and order.’
He added: ‘The Conservatives are clear. Immigrants caught working illegally will lose their status, have their wages seized to pay for their removal, and be deported.
‘This would deter illegal working itself and kill this pull factor fuelling crossings.’
