Immigration controls

This autumn, parliament will debate yet another Immigration Bill, despite the fact that some provisions of the Immigration Act 2014, which only received royal assent in May last year, have yet to be introduced. The Bill aims to send a clear message to ‘anyone who thinks the UK is a soft touch’ that the government will not tolerate abuse. 

Speaking about the Bill, Immigration Minister James Brokenshire said: ‘If you are here illegally, we will take action to stop you from working, renting a flat, opening a bank account or driving a car.’

The government promises reforms, including jail sentences of up to six months for those found working illegally in the UK. Any employer who knows, or suspects, that an employee doesn’t have permission to work here may be prosecuted, fined, and face up to five years imprisonment. Some types of business may have their trading licences revoked if they are found to be employing illegal workers. The onus will be on employers to prove they have made the necessary checks, and they may be closed down for up to 48 hours to demonstrate their compliance to immigration officials.

This is particularly worrying, given that official figures suggest up to 13,000 people could be trapped in forms of modern slavery in the UK, many of whom may have been trafficked. The government is conflating labour and immigration controls, which may help create conditions that are favourable for forced labour and slavery, as victims are likely to avoid inspectors due to fear of being reported to immigration officials. This could undermine the government’s recent work on modern slavery (the Modern Slavery Act become law in July).

Sanctions are only as good their enforcement, and therein could lie a further problem. From January to June this year, of 987 employers issued with a civil penalty notice for employing illegal workers, only 28 paid the full amount.

As with employers, the onus will be on landlords to ensure that tenants are in the UK legally and so permitted to rent property. Landlords may fear that they will be fined £3,000 if they house illegal tenants or their checks are not carried out correctly. Although the proposals will require landlords to check that ?all tenants’ documentation is in order, it is worrying that they may choose to play it safe by dismissing applications from anyone who doesn’t immediately seem to be a UK citizen, which would amount to discrimination. This could make matters worse by forcing the problem underground, with people trapped in squalid living conditions.

While criminalising ?illegal migrants and their ?employers, banks, and landlords demonstrates a strong legislative response to the problem, migrants – from children to elderly people – are a particularly vulnerable population. ?They are often invisible on the international human rights agenda and most national migration policy-making takes place outside a human rights framework. 

The challenge of enforcing human rights and immigration at a national level while integrating human rights into international migration governance discussions remains difficult ?and urgent. SJ

Sharmila Mehta is chairman of the Law Society Immigration Committee and Alastair Logan is an executive committee member of the Law Society Human Rights Committee @TheLawSociety www.lawsociety.org.uk