In the aftermath of the Government’s announcement that it will ramp up immigration enforcement and removals, a new report has proved the function of immigration raids as a fear mechanism, which operate as a form of racist intimidation and divide racialised communities. Raids are meant to humiliate, intimidate, racially subjugate and inflict harm on the “Other”, specifically migrants and/or racialised people.

The new report by UK charity Migrants’ Rights Network, and academics Monish Bhatia and Jon Burnett shows South Asians have been the largest group affected between January 2022 and September 2023, especially Indian, Bangladeshi, and Pakistani nationals. Central and Eastern Europeans were the next largest group targeted at 21%, with Albanian (8%) and Romanian (7%) nationals the next most targeted groups. The charity has also released groundbreaking research mapping the location and frequency of raids which shows these often take place either in city centres on businesses, in areas with significant racialised populations, or in significant areas for migration routes. The greatest number of raids occurred in Belfast and Stranraer, Scotland around the harbours while areas of London and Birmingham with high racialised populations also see a high number of raids.

The report also argues that raids are highly secretive and ambiguous: it is unclear how officials conducting the pre-visit checks determine the immigration status from surveillance at the premises, or how thorough these checks are. Most immigration raids take place as a result of low-grade intelligence such as ‘tip-offs’, including fabricated reports from rival businesses or gossip. This explains the low arrest and deportation rate following a raid, and the “inefficacy” of raids for the purpose of deportations. The report argues therefore that the primary function, if not to deport, is to instil fear in migrant and racialised communities.

Fizza Qureshi, CEO of the Migrants’ Rights Network, said “Raids are an extension of colonial ‘divide and rule’ tactics that pit neighbours, colleagues and the wider community against each other and while inflicting fear. It’s time to send a clear message to the State that we will be holding them to account for the intimidation of racialised communities. I hope this report marks the beginning of an organised effort to scrutinise incredibly secretive operations, and encourage more community-led pushback to these raids.”

Monish Bhatia and Jon Burnett, academics and co-authors of the report said: “Raids are a mechanism to create State-sanctioned fear. They are utilised as part of attempts to disrupt and intimidate communities. They turn neighbour against neighbour, and legitimise the idea that they need to exist. This report makes it loud and clear that raids are part State violence and part political theatre.”