Increasing numbers of EU nationals are abusing the Common Travel arrangement with Ireland to enter the UK and work illegally, GB News can reveal.
Many Romanians and Bulgarians in particular are avoiding border checks by crossing from the Republic, with others simply arriving on tourist visas and then finding work.
GB News was given exclusive access to accompany Immigration Enforcement teams, who have increased the number of raids they carry out by a third since Labour came to power.
There is no publicly available breakdown of the number of EU citizens arrested for immigration offences over the past couple years, but enforcement teams have told this channel “it’s definitely on the rise”.
Immigration enforcement officers conduct a sting in Wales
GB NEWS
In the years following Brexit, EU nationals enjoyed a ‘grace period’, where the Home Office would not arrest and remove them.
But for the past two years, those from the EEA (European Economic Area) are treated like any other overseas citizen, when it comes to breaching right-to-work rules.
Officers targeted a large agricultural business in north Wales this week, raiding the expansive site under the cover of darkness.
More than 30 Immigration Enforcement officers were involved in the operation, alongside colleagues from the police.
The raid followed information that the business had been employing people with no legal right to work in the UK.
Immigration officers arrested four men and two women. All six were Romanian nationals, detained on suspicion of working in breach of visa rules.
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A group of migrants were found in Wales
GB NEWS
The owners of the business could now face a total fine of up to £240,000, or even prison, if they are convicted of employing illegal workers and failing to conduct relevant pre-employment checks.
Although the Government has said many foreign nationals taking up illegal employment in the UK are often exploited and forced to live in squalid conditions, many others make significantly more than they would back home in the likes of Romania or Bulgaria.
While GB News filmed, one of the suspected immigration offenders, who arrived in the UK last October with his wife and child, said he was making £1,000 a week at the north Wales business.
Officers said it was likely that at least some of those arrested had entered the country from the Irish Republic, where the lack of a hard border allows many overseas nationals to cross to the UK unchecked.
Richard Johnson, lead officer for Immigration Enforcement in Wales and the West of England, said: “You’ve got individuals here that we’ve got a trace of them exiting the country, but we’ve got no trace of them coming into the country.
“We haven’t bottomed that out yet, but what we’ve found in the past is that they will have come through Ireland, and then through the Common Travel Area, avoiding immigration controls.
GB News accompanied immigration enforcement officers
GB NEWS
“Like any other foreign national now, if they’re working illegally, then we’ll be looking to counter that and arrest and detain them.”
Speaking inside a cattle shed on the site, Richard Johnson to the People’s Channel that the Irish border was just one of numerous ways migrants are attempting to circumvent UK border controls.
“It’s not just EEA nationals that are going through Ireland. It’s other foreign nationals as well, because it can be like the back door into the UK.
“You’ve got the small boats where people are coming in illegally, you’ve got other clandestines that are coming in the back of lorries as well.”
The officers who spoke to GB News also said that many other overseas nationals simply arrive in the UK as tourists and never leave, until they are caught in enforcement operations.
Immigration officers arrested four men and two women
GB NEWS
Border Security Minister Dame Angela Eagle said: “There is no place in the UK for anyone who thinks they can abuse our immigration laws and exploit vulnerable people.
“Under our Plan for Change, we’re fixing a broken system by ramping up returns and enforcement activity and clamping down on rogue employers who subject workers to squalid conditions.
“My message is clear – illegal workers, and those who employ them, will be identified and they will face the full force of the law.”
The Home Office said that since Labour came to power, there had been 32 per cent more enforcement raids.
The number of arrests totalled more than 3,000 in the past six months, 29 per cent higher than the same period the year before.
