Home Office’s new TikTok account showing videos of migrants being detained branded ‘laughable gimmick’
The Home Office has been criticized after launching a new TikTok account showing videos of illegal immigrants being detained and bragging about the government’s record on deportations; it was a move called a “ridiculous gimmick” by critics.
The “Secure Borders UK” account, launched on Tuesday, currently has only one video.
With dramatic music playing in the background, the video combines clips of immigration enforcement officers raiding homes and businesses and arresting people thought to be in the UK illegally, with key immigration statistics played on screen.
“Nearly 50,000 people have been returned or deported from the UK since July 2024. 83 per cent increase in illegal working arrests. 77 per cent increase in illegal working raids. And it’s just getting started,” the video boasts, as does a clip of a plane taking off.
But responding to the new strategy, shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: “This is another pathetic gimmick that won’t work.
“Just like the government’s previous ploy to crack down on gangs, the idea that putting some posts on TikTok will stop illegal immigrants is laughable.
“The Labor government puts illegal channel migrants into hotels, allows them to work illegally and allows 95 per cent to stay.”
He added: “The only way to stop this is to leave the ECHR (European Court of Human Rights) so that every single illegal immigrant can be deported within a week of their arrival without any prosecution or confusion. Then the crossings will stop very soon.”
Meanwhile, Josephine Whitaker-Yilmaz, head of advocacy at Praxis, a charity that supports immigrants and refugees, said the TikTok account “fuels fear, legitimizes racism and makes life more dangerous for immigrant communities.”
“This government is treating the people like idiots,” he said. “Desperate to beat Reformation at the polls, Labor is rethinking its talk on immigration rather than showing real leadership at a time when racial tensions are dangerously high.
“This TikTok account repeats the far-right lie that immigration itself is the problem and distracts from the real failures: years of political choices that have gutted our economy, left public services underfunded, and left communities struggling.”
Ms Whitaker-Yilmaz added: “Publishing dehumanizing images depicting immigrants as criminals does nothing to improve the lives of ordinary people. It fuels fear, legitimizes racism and makes life more dangerous for immigrant communities.”
The new account comes just months after the Trump administration faced criticism for using a voiceover from a British airline ad to seemingly mock a group of deported immigrants. A tweet on X (Twitter).
The UK Home Office video was released on the same day new figures revealed a significant increase in enforcement against illegal work in the UK; Both workplace visits and arrests reached their highest levels since records began in 2019.
Data shows that there were 12,791 visits to establishments such as manicurists, car washes, barbers and takeaway shops in 2025.
This represents a significant increase of 57 percent compared to the 8,122 visits recorded in the previous year.
Arrests related to illegal work also hit a record high; 8,971 people were arrested last year; This is an increase of almost 59 per cent compared to the 5,647 arrests made in 2024, the previous high point in Home Office data.
Of those arrested, 1,087 people have been deported from the UK so far.
It comes as part of a wider effort to curb illegal immigration and combat the threat posed by Reform UK amid rising approval ratings for Nigel Farage’s party.
Home Affairs Minister Shabana Mahmood said: “There is no place for illegal work in our societies.
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“That’s why we’ve stepped up enforcement activity to the highest level in British history, so illegal immigrants in the underground economy have nowhere to hide.
“I will stop at nothing to restore order and control at our borders.”
The Home Office also said visits had increased by 77 per cent and arrests by 83 per cent since Labor came to power.
Between July 2024 and December last year, approximately 17,483 visits and 12,322 arrests were recorded; From January 2023 to June 2024, this number increased to 9,894 and 6,725 people, respectively.
Of those arrested, 1,726 people have returned so far; This represents a 35 per cent increase on the 1,283 people suspended from visits in the previous 18-month period.
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Between visits by immigration officers, officers arrested 13 people at a warehouse in Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, on 25 November; This led to the detention of 11 Brazilian and Romanian nationals pending deportation from the United Kingdom.
The Home Office said that on December 16, police officers arrested 30 Indian and Albanian men at a construction site in Swindon, Wiltshire, almost all of whom were detained pending deportation from the UK and five of whom were released on immigration bail.
£5m has been given to the immigration department to arrest, detain and remove immigrants working illegally in places such as takeaways, beauty salons and car washes.
Officers have also been using body-worn cameras to assist in arrests and prosecutions since September.
Elsewhere, stricter right-to-work checks have been introduced under the government’s new Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act, with casual, temporary or agency workers required to prove their status.
Employers who fail to comply with inspections could face up to five years in prison, a £60,000 fine for each illegal worker they employ and the closure of their premises.
