The Home Office’s immigration team is carrying out more “enforcement visits” than ever, at an average of 60 a day

Yet only around a third of these operations, including raids on homes and businesses, resulted in an arrest

Warrants were only used in a quarter of raids, down from 40% a decade ago. Experts say this suggests they are fishing expeditions based on weak intelligence

Raids like this are increasingly common in our high streets. The Home Office has said they are necessary to “restore order” to the immigration system. It posts videos showing migrants being detained, invites journalists on ride-alongs and boasts of arresting people in record numbers.

At the start of the year, home secretary Shabana Mahmood said the government had “surged enforcement activity to the highest level in British history” ensuring “illegal migrants … have nowhere to hide”.

God I fucking hate Shabana Mahmood.

Recent data we obtained, though, suggests this has only worsened. Last year, 89% of leads on “immigration crime” came from the public or from the Crimestoppers, a charity that collects anonymous tip-offs. Around 2% came from the police.

In a local Facebook group, a question about the incident at the restaurant prompted a number of racist and threatening comments.

Of course, Meta banned these people… Right?

When using this power, officers are meant to inform the person of their rights, including the fact that they are free to revoke their consent at any time. But this doesn’t always happen.