The UK Border Agency has arrested five Indians after finding them working illegally during a recent raid on a clothing manufacturer in Leicester.
In an official statement issued here on Friday, UK Immigration Minister Damian Green said that the enforcement operation was part of a nationwide crackdown to tackle illegal working, sham marriages, bogus colleges and organised immigration crime.
Acting on intelligence, officers visited Lily Ltd on Junction Road on January 11, where they questioned staff and checked their immigration status.
Five Indian men, aged between 30 and 40, were arrested after checks revealed that three had entered the UK illegally while two were failed asylum seekers, Green said, adding that none of them had the right to work in the UK.
The UK Border Agency was now taking action to deport all the illegal workers from the country as soon as possible, he said, adding that the business house was served with an on-the-spot penalty notice for employing illegal workers and may now face a fine of up to £50,000.
To avoid this, the business must prove to the UK Border Agency that it carried out the correct pre-employment checks on its staff, he quipped.
“We are making more use of new technology both at the border and inland to enable officers to focus their efforts on people trying to cheat the system. Our proposals to tackle abuse by foreign nationals using student visas to gain work in the UK alongside new plans to toughen up marriage and family routes will, together with the changes already put in place this year, ensure that we bring net migration down to the tens of thousands,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“We are making more use of new technology both at the border and inland to enable officers to focus their efforts on people trying to cheat the system. Our proposals to tackle abuse by foreign nationals using student visas to gain work in the UK alongside new plans to toughen up marriage and family routes will, together with the changes already put in place this year, ensure that we bring net migration down to the tens of thousands,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}UK Border Agency East Midlands assistant director Phil Dyer said that any business that takes on a foreign national without permission to work would face heavy fines and could end up in jail.