EU citizens living and working in the UK without a visa, now face the real prospect of arrest, GB News can reveal.
Immigration Enforcement officers have been issued with new guidance, allowing for the detention and removal of those EU Nationals who are working here illegally.
GB News was given exclusive access to follow immigration officers as they raided businesses in London, arresting two EU citizens from Romania, who officers said were in the UK without work visas.
The raids targeted several companies in south east London.
As immigration enforcement and police officers arrived at a skip hire business, we filmed as the officers moved fast to stop their suspects disappearing.
The teams searched some of the skips and other areas as they made their way across the site.
Among those they were looking for were at least two Albanians.
Immigration enforcement officers said they believed one of the men ran off as they arrived.
The other man was found behind the wheel of a works vehicle.But after a number of checks, officials said he appeared to have a legitimate work visa.
Nearby, the rest of the workforce gathered in the company’s offices as officers checked their status.
After interviewing a Romanian man, he was placed under arrest on suspicion of working in the UK without a proper visa.
An immigration enforcement officer reveals new guidance has been issued
Image: GB News
The senior immigration enforcement officer on the raids told GB News that his team had been issued with "new guidance in the past week", allowing for the arrest of EU nationals living and working here illegally.
Conservative MP Lee Anderson, who sits on the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, welcomed the apparent tougher approach.
“EU citizens who are here and they’re working when they should not be working, then quite frankly, they're breaking the law.
“And my view on anybody who's here breaking the law from another country is they should be sent home pretty much straight away.
Tory MP Lee Anderson has welcomed the new guidance
Image: GB News
“It's a big problem we've got. We don't know how many people have got into this country and are working in the black economy.
“I believe this is happening up and down the country in every town and village and city, there's this hidden population of people who are working that should not be working.
"It's great news that this guidance is making sure that wherever you're from, even if you're from the EU, you get sent home, that that's got to be welcome news."
Following Brexit, EU Nationals arriving in the UK must now have the appropriate visas if they want to live and work here.
For more than a year, border officials have detained some EU Nationals at UK ports and airports, if they suspect them of planning to work here illegally.
The move signals a tougher approach from Rishi Sunak's government
Image: GB News
But those EU citizens already in the UK and working without permission, have not been pursued by immigration enforcement, until now.
As GB News followed the immigration enforcement raids in south east London, another EU national from Romania was arrested on suspicion of working illegally.
It signals a tougher approach from Rishi Sunak's government, after he promised to crack down on those abusing UK immigration laws.
As immigration officers raided businesses in London, elsewhere 26 Albanian criminals and immigration offenders were deported.
A Home Office charted flight flew the group to the Albanian capital Tirana.Those onboard were convicted of multiple crimes, including drug offences, money laundering and entering the UK illegally.
