Motorcyclist on shopping trip arrested amid Labour’s crackdown on undocumented migrants | Immigration and asylum
A motorcycle driver on a shopping trip He was arrested as part of a high -profile government pressure for non -documentary immigrants working for food distribution practices and was detained for a month.
Fernando Fontoura, who moved from Portugal to England at the age of 12, was arrested by immigrant executive officers after parked his motorcycle near a grocery store to a grocery store on July 22, on July 22nd. Gatwick was taken to a detention center near the airport and was held for 29 days.
“I came here [in the UK] 21 years. It was completely unjust ”.[The Home Office] He says there is no legal basis to be in the UK. But my family is here. My fiancée here. I’ve been paying taxes here for more than 10 years. I read it here. I made my GCSE and my NVQs here. I got my insurance number at the age of 16. “
Fontoura’s parents moved to London in 2004. His father worked in construction and his mother worked cleaner. Im I made my life here, Fon Fonoura said. “I grew up in the UK. I bought language, culture and everything else.
Ministry of the Interior accelerated the sweeping of workplaces Since the worker came to power, he has been looking for immigrant workers without documentary. The arrests for migratory practices targeting migrant workers and the arrests for “illegal work ilm increased by approximately 50% in the first 10 months of the Labor Government compared to the previous year.
The policy, which is criticized by refugee charities, is an important part of the government’s strategy of reforming reform of England. Prime minister Published twice in X in August The arrest of hundreds of delivery drivers is “cheating on our system” and “illegal work”.
The Ministry of Interior opposed the bail for Fontoura, arguing that there was no evidence to support the claim that he had entered England with his family in 2004. However, Guardian saw that official documents showing that Fontoura has grown in England grew up in England, including a letter from the secondary school in South London, where he attended between 2005-2008.
Other documents show that HMRC gave a national insurance number in 2009 and works in an electronic store in Croydon in 2015. The 2006 Business and Pension Department certificate states that his father came to England with his wife and children, including Fontoura in 2004.
Fontoura was given bail on 19 August. His work was banned and the Ministry of the Interior had to report to the immigration center every two weeks while investigating. “They allowed me, but they canceled my insurance number, so I can’t do anything to look for a job or to protect myself,” he said.
He lives for constant fear of arrest. “They can take me back [the immigration detention centre] at any time. Even if I am outside, I am not free. This makes you feel paranoid, because you know that you’re always going back to the nightmare you’ve always been dealing with last month. “
The working rights center, a charity that supports immigrant workers, helps Fontoura to apply for settled status. He thought he had resided in England because he could come from England while traveling in Europe. He did not realize that he had to apply for the EU citizens within the scope of the Brexit plan.
Luke Piper, the head of the center, said that Fontura has a good case for settled status, because people can still apply if they can show reasonable reasons for the delay.
He said he was worried that the government’s pressure on “illegal work ıy that he could capture people who are legitimate reasons to be in the UK and people who are struggling to prove their immigration situations.
“This brutal reaction [of the Home Office] Later, people lost their jobs, detained, lost their homes and so on.
The Ministry of Interior said it would not be appropriate to comment on a case that is still under investigation.
