Delivery riders caught working illegally across Britain face being removed following a major operation by the Home Office’s Immigration Enforcement teams.
During just seven days of action last month, 171 riders were arrested. Of those, 60 were detained for removal from the UK, News Cover reports, citing UK government.
The operation saw Immigration Enforcement officers stop delivery riders operating in villages, towns and cities right across the country. Those found to be working illegally were arrested on the spot.
The results follow government revealing that in the last year, enforcement action to disrupt illegal working across all sectors reached record breaking levels, with over 11,000 visits and 8,000 arrests – a 51% and 63% rise respectively.
On top of this, nearly 50,000 people with no right to be here have been removed since July 2024 and people smuggling arrests, convictions and seizures have increased by 33% in the past 12 months.
Last week, Border Security Minister Alex Norris met with Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats to discuss work they are already carrying out to tackle illegal working on their platforms and how they can go further.
This includes the firms’ continued work to ramp up randomised facial recognition checks to tackle illicit account sharing and receiving the location of asylum hotels to monitor for illegal working hotspots.
The activity forms part of Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s sweeping reforms to tackle illegal migration in Britain. This includes increasing removals and deportations and making it less attractive for illegal migrants to come to the UK.
