'It's about protection as well as compliance'

M.E.N. JOINS IMMIGRATION OFFICERS ON THE FRONTLINE AGAINST ILLEGAL WORKING

- THOMAS GEORGE

IT’S a beautiful Friday evening in Manchester city centre and the bars and pubs are overflowing with people enjoying the warm weather. But just yards from the sun-drenched beer gardens, others are having their lives turned upside down.

In the upstairs room of a Chinese restaurant, a woman is being interrogated by a Home Office immigration officer. Across the hallway, a group of young women are belting out karaoke songs.

After a short while, the woman is led out of the restaurant and bundled into the back of a police van. The woman, who was found preparing shellfish in the restaurant’s kitchen, is believed to have been working illegally. She now faces an uncertain future and the possibility of being removed from the UK.

She is one of two people arrested after enforcement officers swooped on a pair of city centre restaurants in a crackdown on illegal working.

The Manchester Evening News was invited along to witness the raids, which saw the Home Office act on intelligence received regarding a number of businesses across Greater Manchester.

The day begins at a nondescript office block in the shadow of MediaCityUK in Salford. After a short briefing, immigration officers don their stab vests before we pile into the vans and hit the road.

After a briefing in the car park of a Sainsbury’s store next to Heaton Park, we set out for Spot On Car Wash in Manchester Old Road, Middleton. The raid is acting on intelligence that the car wash has been employing illegal migrants, including boys as young as 14.

Two grey vans pull up on the main road outside before officers jump out and storm the forecourt amid a flurry of scurrying and shouting.