UK - Police State

One in five people stopped by immigration enforcement teams in Britain’s biggest cities is a UK national, according to newly revealed figures that critics say cast doubt on official claims that such stops are “intelligence-led”. British citizens were the most stopped nationality, despite Home Office guidance which states that stops must be carried out on “an intelligence-led basis”.

Out of 102,552 stopped in the past five years, 19,096 – 18.6% – were British citizens which lends credence to suspicions of unlawful racial profiling. In Sheffield and Glasgow, nearly a third of those stopped were British citizens.  In 2013, the Equality and Human Rights Commission wrote to the Home Office after human rights campaigners and politicians raised concerns that immigration officers were using racial profiling techniques at public transport hubs. The then immigration minister, Mark Harper, insisted “we do not stop people at random; we are not empowered to do so by law”.

Immigration enforcement liveried vans have become an increasingly common sight in areas with large migrant communities. 

Glasgow human rights lawyer Aamer Anwar said, “There is definitely racial profiling going on, and we’re increasingly concerned about the intelligence.”