As soon as I read the news that Yvette Cooper, Britain’s new Home Secretary, had announced plans to crack down on businesses such as car washes and beauty salons to stem illegal working in the UK, I had a flashback to an unforgettable moment.
As a partner in human rights at Leigh Day Solicitors, it’s something I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this week.
Back in 2018 and 2019, I used to visit a hair salon in Streatham in South London to get my hair braided.
The salon was run by a fabulous woman of African heritage and to pay the exorbitant rent, she let out corners of the shop to people who provided other services – including nail extensions, eyelashes, eyebrow threading, and waxing.
I didn’t always appreciate the noisy and untidy place, but there was joy, too – from the gossip and the unsolicited advice about improving my appearance or relationship, to the music and people watching (especially those donning mercilessly, and in my mind, ridiculous, long eyelashes and nails).
It was a place of escape and one where I felt safe.
Except, I happened to be there one day when immigration enforcement turned up.
There were five officers in black uniforms, but one remained in the van parked up outside.
While they did say that they were from Immigration Enforcement quite quickly, it was their initial burst into the shop which was startling,
Everyone froze as the operation was one of true terror. It could easily have been an armed robbery, such was the menacing command to stay where we were.
The immigration officers went straight for the nail technician who was of Vietnamese heritage.
They asked her what her immigration status was and she pulled out a Biometric Residence Card. They then tapped into a handheld machine and confirmed she was safe – it revealed that she was lawfully in the UK.
They then turned to the eyebrow threader, who looked at me nervously. I tried to return a reassuring glance.
She’d arrived from India many years ago and had actually once asked me some questions about the immigration rules.
She was on a family visa route with her husband and it appeared that she had submitted some sort of extension application for further leave, but had not had an answer yet.
I offered help, but she said she had a lawyer dealing with her case. For a moment, I wondered if she’d be OK. I let out a sigh of relief as she also had her Biometric Residence Card in her purse.
The owner said that it was the third time immigration enforcement had turned up and she was fed up
The officers’ final stop was the three African heritage staff; they were all British citizens. One of these women – the owner – was made to go to her flat above the business to retrieve evidence of her British status.
One burly red-faced officer muttered something that sounded like they’d had false intelligence.
No customers were questioned. I watched everything unfold curiously, but angrily.
As a lawyer, I asked if this was all necessary, but I refrained from saying much and I’d only do so if someone was being detained for not checking out.
I would have offered to provide information on the help available to them, but it wasn’t necessary.
The immigration officers not directly involved in questioning people also watched on angrily, before leaving empty-handed.
When they’d driven off, the only white member of staff – doing eyelashes – looked ashen.
She said she was unsure of her immigration status, as her father had told her he’d sorted it, but she was worried. She was Albanian.
She was the only person working in the place not to be questioned, which was not lost on us – including white customers waiting for nails and eyelashes.
Surprisingly, the workers laughed it off and it was business as usual. But not for the owner, who said that it was the third time immigration enforcement had turned up and she was fed up.
She felt targeted and harassed so wanted to close the business. Sadly, she did eventually do that, though I don’t know if this was the reason.
In the next few weeks, the Home Secretary will order similar operations across countless car, beauty and food businesses.
Without a doubt, there are issues in these industries. Trafficking and modern slavery are evils I deal with in my professional role as a human rights lawyer – truthfully, I’ve worked with many women from nail bars, but not with anyone from a car wash.
I’ve even worked with women trafficked and forced into sex work.
As a result of the work that I do, I’ve long worried about some of the men and women I see in both the nail shops and car washes I walk past.
Like previous policies, I believe this new one won’t stem illegal migration
I also know that large numbers of these workers have regularised their stay in the UK and, if they started out as trafficked victims, have managed to escape this evil and live their lives on their own terms.
But the exercise afoot seems unconcerned with whether people have been trafficked, or of their working conditions or welfare.
What will happen is that British people, settled people, people with leave to remain – many Black and brown people – will be harassed and terrorised in an egregious and racialised way.
And this will all be in front of petrified and suspicious customers, causing long-term harm to legitimate businesses.
The thing is, the Home Secretary is right that most people in the UK want to see a properly managed asylum system where Britain helps those fleeing persecution.
But she is wrong to think that the country wants a resumption of either the policies of the Hostile Environment or its successor, the Compliant Environment – a set of rules aimed at deterring illegal migration.
It was first coined by Labour, but the Conservative government implemented it through projects like Operation Vaken which, back in 2013, had vans telling people to ‘go home’ parading around areas with high numbers of Black and brown people, and other measures which required people like doctors, landlords, employers, check up on the status of people they were dealing with.
Labour’s mandate is for a compassionate and well-run approach to dealing with those seeking asylum.
Like the previous policies and the operations underpinning them, I believe this new one won’t stem illegal migration. Sure, there’ll be a few offenders paraded before cameras, but the real story will be that Black and brown communities across the UK will be victimised.
And this will be done against the backdrop of the National Audit Office’s report of June 2020, which revealed that the Home Office could not provide evidence of whether its Hostile or Compliant policies worked.
In my view, the Home Secretary’s operation will impact more on people legitimately in the UK, than it will curb illegal migration – just as the victims of the Windrush Scandal discovered.
Thousands of people in the Windrush generation were victims of the Hostile Environment Policy. They were legally in the country, and the policy was about stemming illegal migration.
It’s why I don’t want anyone to have to go through the indignity of what I witnessed.
Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing jess.austin@metro.co.uk.
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