Immigration officers make 50 raids a week
Last updated 16:01, Wednesday, 23 July 2008
THE UK Border Agency – immigration control – is a branch of the Home Office which looks at everything from illegal working to granting British citizenship.
They carry out 50 raids a week in the North West and Cumbria on buildings housing illegal immigrants.
Steve Lynch, 47, of New Brighton, near Liverpool, has been an immigration officer for seven years, and has been on seven operations across Cumbria, including last month’s raid on two Chinese fast food premises in Maryport.
That night seven people were put on ‘immigration bail’ and made to report to immigration head office in Liverpool, with their papers, to prove they are allowed to legally work here. If they are not then the process of getting them out of the country begins.
“All of our work is intelligence based,” said Steve. “We listen to reports of illegal working and illegal immigrants by members of the public, by other government agencies and by the local police forces. Before we act on the reports we have we make sure they are not malicious. We build up a lot of surveillance of the buildings in question, looking for doors that possible illegal immigrants could escape from. We also see how many people work in the shops and restaurants, and look for injured people or women with babies.
“We also need to talk to the local police to see if they are carrying out any undercover operations because we don’t want to ruin that for them.
“It is a misconception that we use force when we make the raid. That is not the case. We use our training in negotiating and talk to the people in order to make an arrest. However, we are not there to be nice, because these people have broken British law and we must find out who they are; where they are from; and if they are working or living illegally. We can and do raise our level of intensity if we feel we are being messed around but never resort to violence.”
Interviews are always carried out in English unless the foreign national doesn’t understand.
Steve said: “We always start our interviews in English but if the person doesn’t understand then we have something called language line, which allows us to have a three-way phone call to include someone speaking in their first language.
“When we are at the building we try to cause little disturbance and we allow the people who are allowed to be here to carry on working. We have the right to walk into any take-aways or restaurants but we still need a warrant to enter residential buildings. If we believe someone is an illegal worker then we take a quick scan of their finger prints, which are sent to our headquarters in Liverpool.”
Employees of illegal immigrants can be fined up to £10,000 for each illegal foreign national.
Immigration officers are not part of the police and work slightly differently. “There is one big difference and that is that the police must prove you have done something wrong before arresting you, while for us, the person we are questioning must prove they are allowed to be here,” Steve said. “Anyone detained by us can be kept for up to 72 hours.
“When they are arrested they will spend the night in a cell then be taken to an immigration detention centre.
“Sometimes we can take them straight to the airport and put them on the next plane home, but they must sign a disclaimer form first. Others are given financial incentives to sign a disclaimer so they can leave the country.
“The money will allow them to set up a business in their own country. They are given the money because it is cheaper to do that and get them on a plane home than it is to keep them here and put them through all the checks and measures.
“When we are on a raid then we are a very well organised group and everyone knows their role when we turn up to a job. It can be dangerous, especially in restaurants where sharp knives and hot oil is around, but I never get nervous because I have complete faith in my team.
“Saying that, you cannot get complacent and you have to be aware of everything around you because some of these people don’t want to go back.”
To become an immigration officer you need to undertake an eight-week training course followed by a three-week course in learning the skills of arresting people.
Before the immigration service came calling, Steve worked in the Child Support Agency and later became an ombudsman for them, but he much prefers his current law-enforcing job.
“I think my job is really good,” said Steve. “I don’t like normal nine to five jobs and this definitely gets me out of the office. I never feel sorry for the people I am arresting because they are law breakers. You can empathise but never sympathise.”
Officers will be getting extra training in the coming months as the immigration service seeks less reliance on the police.
Steve said: “We will be getting trained in entry methods to get into buildings legally.”
Steve, who studied languages as John Moores University, Liverpool, finds his degree really useful for the job he now does. “I can speak fluent Russian and with the amount of Eastern Europeans we have in the country now it is really useful.
“They don’t expect me to be able to speak their language and look shocked when I do. There are a few that think they can pull the wool over my eyes and claim to be Russian but their dialect is different so I know they are lying.
“When you know someone is lying to you it is really frustrating because you are doing this for their own good even though they don’t see it that way.
“We have an extended baton, handcuffs and a stab vest as our protective measures but we don’t use them unless we have to.
“A lot of people we come across are nice and nothing bad has happened when I’ve been on a raid but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.”
