Tories go after employers of illegal migrants
IMMIGRATION officers are set to crack down on employers giving jobs to illegal migrants, as the government faces mounting pressure over its handling of the migrant crisis in Calais.
Immigration minister James Brokenshire said yesterday: “Rogue employers who give jobs to illegal migrants are denying work to UK citizens and legal migrants and helping drive down wages.”
It is understood that border enforcement teams are getting ready to conduct hundreds of raids as part of the government’s latest push to create a “hostile environment” for illegal migration.
The government has already announced plans to refuse driving licences and bank accounts to undocumented workers, and has proposed penalising landlords who rent properties to illegal migrants – suggestions which have been criticised for putting responsibility on the private sector to enforce migration policy.
“Experience tells us that employers who are prepared to cheat employment rules are also likely to breach health and safety rules and pay insufficient tax,” Brokenshire told The Times.