Home Office announces ‘nationwide blitz’ on asylum seekers taking jobs | Immigration and asylum

The Home Office has announced what it is calling a “nationwide blitz” on asylum seekers who take jobs, after recent political controversy about people in asylum hotels working as food takeaway delivery riders.

In a statement, which gave few specifics, the Home Office pledged to begin “a major operation to disrupt this type of criminality” based around enforcement teams focusing on the gig economy, particularly on delivery riders.

“Strategic, intel-driven activity will bring together officers across the UK and place an increased focus on migrants suspected of working illegally whilst in taxpayer funded accommodation or receiving financial support,” the statement said.

It follows media stories about evidence that people who are living in hotels waiting for their asylum claims to…