Report by UK Border Agency chief inspector reveals immigration arrest team's failures to follow official policy
Senior immigration officials failed to tell a UK Border Agency (UKBA) "arrest team" that a woman they were sent to detain was four months pregnant when they carried out an early morning raid on her home earlier this year.
John Vine, the chief inspector of the UKBA, said there were other significant failures to comply with official guidance when he sat in on briefings and visits carried out by the Croydon immigration arrest team this February.
The inspection also revealed that four other raids planned for the same day were cancelled because of a lack of available spaces for men at nearby detention centres.
In an indication of the kind of hostility now generated by the immigration debate, a second report by Vine also published on Friday reveals the UKBA receives more than 100,000 allegations a year from the public – more than 2,000 a week – naming suspected illegal immigrants.
But he said the UKBA was unable to tell him what proportion of such allegations had led to people being prevented from entering Britain or resulted in enforcement action against people living or working illegally in the UK.
The inspection of Croydon arrest team, which is one of 53 immigration arrest squads across England and Wales, focused on their use of "police-like powers of arrest, entry, search and seizure".
The report reveals that 11,913 raids or "visits" were carried out between April 2010 and January 2011 by such teams, during which 6,388 people were arrested and detained. The Croydon team was responsible for 460 visits, mainly carried out early in the morning, and the arrests of 184 people.
The report of the short-notice inspection carried out on 8 February this year says Vine was concerned to find significant non-compliance with the UKBA's policy and guidance. In the first operation he witnessed, the officer in charge failed to tell the arrest team that the woman to be arrested was four months pregnant.
"Such an oversight could have had significant negative consequences, both for the woman in question and the agency. The absence of specific reference to a pregnant female is unacceptable and is a significant failing of the briefing."
A second visit to the same address had not been authorised in writing and although the officers got permission to enter her home, it did not amount to informed consent.
"Arrest teams are one of the most challenging and high profile areas of work undertaken by UKBA and it is vital that this work is performed consistently and sensitively," said Vine.
He said the lack of compliance with official policy he saw in briefings and on operations left the UKBA open to potential allegations of poor professional standards. He is to carry out another snap inspection of the Croydon team in the next six months.
Damian Green, the immigration minister, responding to both reports, said enforcement activity was the cornerstone of the new immigration system: "Using intelligence from a variety of sources, including members of the public, we carried out 1,400 arrests, 330 prosecutions and 260 removals."