The new Labour government will focus on beauty salons and car washes as part of new measures to tackle illegal immigration over the summer.
New Labour Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said that around 1,000 people who were previously working on the recently scrapped Rwanda deportation scheme will be redeployed to investigate businesses in sectors known for employing illegal workers, including beauty and nail salons and hand car washes.
Cooper wrote in The Sun on Sunday, "We cannot pretend everything is OK. Not when criminal gangs are making millions out of dangerous small boat crossings that undermine our border security and put lives at risk."
She added, “We have directed Immigration Enforcement to intensify their operations over the summer, with a focus on employers who are fuelling the trade of criminal gangs by exploiting and facilitating illegal working here in the UK – including in car washes and in the beauty sector.
“And we are drawing up new plans for fast-track decisions and returns for safe countries.”
This is not the first time there have been organised government raids on nail and beauty salons suspected of employing illegal workers.
The Government said that the new plans will specifically target migrants from countries such as Vietnam, which is the largest group crossing the Channel illegally but unlikely to be given asylum.
The announcement follows reports that at least 15,489 people have crossed the Channel in small boats this year. The total number is expected to now exceed 15,500, following additional reported arrivals over the weekend.
New Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was previously criticised by Conservative MPs for announcing the abolition of the Rwanda scheme on his first day in office, as they claimed it was a deterrent to people looking cross the Channel into the UK.
Labour has pledged to make border security one of its top priorities and has already taken some steps toward establishing the Border Security Command announced in its manifesto.
Sir Keir Starmer also discussed migration with other European leaders at the recent European Political Community summit at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire on Thursday (July 18).
