In the latest government bid to curb immigration, people who are in the country illegally face a prison term or an unlimited fine if caught working.
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“”Anyone who thinks the UK is a soft touch should be in no doubt – if you are here illegally, we will take action to stop you from working, renting a flat, opening a bank account or driving a auto”, stated Brokenshire.
Takeaway and off licence owners are at risk of losing their business if they are found to be hiring illegal immigrants, according to the new immigration bill that will be introduced this autumn.
UK border officials will also be given the power to close businesses temporarily, remove licences and prosecute employers if they are caught hiring people who have no legal right to be in the country. The law is also being tweaked to bring under it minicab drivers and operators.
A Home Office spokesman said: “We will lower the existing evidence requirement to prove this offence in order to boost prosecutions and increase the current maximum sentence from two to five years”.
The law on cases for deliberately employing illegal workers will be changed to pave the way for more prosecutions.
Courts would then place the worst offenders under “special measures” such as forcing them to remain shut or carrying out ongoing compliance checks.
Meanwhile, the Daily Mirror says ministers “are desperate” to be seen to be getting tough on illegal immigration ahead of the release of the official statistics on immigration due out on Thursday.
Banks would have to check accounts against migrant databases, and under the legislation, landlords would be expected to evict tenants whose requ-ests for asylum fail. “That means wages paid to illegal migrants will be seized as proceeds of crime and businesses will be told when their workers’ visas expire so if you’re involved in illegal working – employer or employee – you’re breaking the law”.
Ms Natacha Bouchart, mayor of the northern French port city of Calais, where thousands of migrants are camped in the hope of crossing to Britain, has previously said Britain’s generous welfare system and lax identity controls make it a magnet for illegal migrants.
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Figures from the Oxford Migration Observatory suggest the number of illegal immigrants in the UK is anywhere between 420,000 and 860,000.
