Illegal immigration crackdown: Over a THOUSAND raids have taken place since Sunak vowed to get tough

Desk report: Immigration Enforcement officers have carried out more than eleven hundred raids on suspected immigration offenders since Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged to get far tougher on illegal migrants.

Since December 11, there have been 1,152 raids to identify those suspected of working illegally in the UK, marking a 10 per cent rise on enforcement activity over the previous five week period.

The increase in activity follows the establishment of the UK’s first cross-government taskforce on immigration enforcement.

Ministers claim it “will ensure every available power across government is utilised to support law enforcement activity to identify and reduce illegal migrants in the UK”.

In December, the Prime Minister announced plans to tackle illegal working and immigration, including hiring 200 new Immigration Enforcement staff and restarting data sharing with banks to ensure those here illegally do not have access to bank accounts.

In the five weeks since, 362 arrests have been made by Immigration officers and 92 illegal working penalties have also been issued, totalling 31.5 million.