Arrests for illegal work have surged 51 per cent this past year after the Home Office raided restaurants, nail bars and construction sites throughout the UK.
More than 6,400 people have been arrested over the last 12 months as police focus on ‘unscrupulous’ employers who exploit undocumented migrants.
The data from the Home Office reveals that more than 9,000 businesses were visited for checks to be made on paperwork and working conditions.
It did not provide how many of the arrests led to charges, convictions or deportations but said immigration enforcement officials had ‘intensified’ their work to ‘tackle those abusing the UK immigration system and exploiting vulnerable people’.
The Home Office said said there were a range of industries exploiting migrant workers with businesses often subjecting migrants to ‘squalid conditions and illegal working hours’ and below-minimum wages.
Minister for Border Security and Asylum, Dame Angela Eagle, said: ‘For too long, employers have been able to take on and exploit migrants, with people allowed to arrive and work here illegally.
‘This will no longer be tolerated on our watch. That’s why we are ramping up our enforcement activity and introducing tougher laws to finally get a grip of our immigration and asylum system.
‘Under our Plan for Change, we will continue to root out unscrupulous employers and disrupt illegal workers who undermine our border security.’
Immigration enforcement officers have targeted thousands of premises, including one at a car wash in August
Car wash workers being led away during the raid over the summer
The video was released as part of the Home Office’s attempts to project a tough stance on immigration enforcement
Immigration officials carrying out a dawn raid on the home of a suspected people smuggler in Southampton
In Oldham, immigration Enforcement officers found makeshift shipping containers that had been turned into a kitchen and living room
The shipping containers had been set up on a scrapyard to house the illegal workers
It is a legal requirement for employers to carry out Right to Work checks and those who fail to do so face hefty penalties including fines of up to £60,000 per worker, director disqualifications and potential prison sentences of up to five years.
Over the past year, the government said it had returned almost 30,000 people who did not have the right to be in the UK.
In one case at a construction site in Belfast’s historic Titanic Quarter in March, officers made 36 arrests with offences ranged from breaching visa conditions to illegal entry in the UK with no permission to work.
Elsewhere, 9 arrests were made at a caravan park in Surrey last month following intelligence individuals were working illegally as delivery drivers in the gig economy.
Meanwhile, 9 people were also arrested in Bradford in March as officers intercepted a popular illegal working pick up point in Naples Street.
Director of Enforcement, Compliance and Crime at Immigration Enforcement Eddy Montgomery said: ‘Our work to tackle illegal working is vital in not only bringing the guilty to account, but also in protecting vulnerable people from exploitation.
‘I’m incredibly proud of our enforcement teams across the country for their hard work, skill and co-operation on these often challenging but highly important operations.’