Home Office data show 66.1% of 2025 enforcement visits ended without arrests

Most premises visits occurred without warrants

The figures obtained through freedom-of-information requests counted 23,538 Home Office immigration enforcement engagements in 2025, including workplace raids, home raids and spot checks — 60 a day. The findings emerged after inquiries by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and The Guardian amid growing concerns about the effects on innocent workers and businesses. Of the engagements, 15,578, or 66.1%, resulted in no arrests. Warrants were used in only 25.81% of visits in which officers accessed premises.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has hailed the expanded use of immigration enforcement teams and said they would help secure the UK’s borders by removing a key incentive for irregular migration. Under her leadership, raids have targeted establishments associated with informal “black market” work, including nail bars, car washes, barbers, takeaways, construction sites and warehouses, as well as people’s homes.

The Home Office has uploaded footage from some enforcement raids conducted between June and October to its Instagram account. TikTok posts have shown arrests of people working without authorization, with enforcement officers tackling them to the ground and locking them in the backs of vans.

The public and Crimestoppers supplied 89% of leads alleging “immigration crime” in 2025, while police supplied around 2%. Crimestoppers is a charity that collects anonymous tip-offs. The Home Office vigorously disputed claims that the agency launches “fishing expeditions,” saying intelligence is thoroughly examined before an immigration raid is launched.

Kevin Barker, a former immigration officer who now works with businesses wrongly accused of employing people who do not have the right to work in the UK, said raids were often “fishing expeditions” based on tenuous tip-offs. He said: “You’re not allowed to apply for a search warrant if the intelligence you’ve got is old or an anonymous allegation that can’t be corroborated … but it doesn’t stop them.”

At a raid last month at Sultanz, an Indian restaurant in Camborne, Cornwall, officers arrived from unmarked vans while customers sat down to eat, owner Samsu Ali said. Ali said it felt as if his six-year-old business was being invaded. “As soon as they parked … everyone runs to the kitchen, front door, back door, everywhere,” he said. Ali said the officers had no warrant and asked every worker for their details once inside.

Nanu Mia, a Bangladeshi employee who had been packing meals for collection, gave officers his details, but they struggled to understand him. Officers then handcuffed him, arrested him and marched him to a van. Mia was de-arrested and released after his sister rushed to the restaurant with his identity card, which helped prove that he was allowed to work. Ali said the restaurant was cleared of any immigration breaches and that customer numbers had fallen steeply since the raid.

A question about the incident in a local Facebook group produced what The Guardian described as racist and threatening comments. One person wrote: “People with somewhat darker skin are literally taking over our community and causing a lot of unrest.” The comments left Ali struggling to sleep. “They don’t understand how much money and time I have spent in the last six years,” he said.

Officers without a warrant can rely on other powers to enter premises, The Guardian reported. They can enter licensed premises — including restaurants, pubs, hotels, cafes and businesses that sell alcohol or provide late-night hot food — without a warrant under section 179 of the Licensing Act 2003. In most cases, more than 12,000 last year, officers can ask the tenant, manager or owner for consent.

When using this consent power, officers are meant to inform the person of their rights, including that the person is free to revoke consent at any time. Once inside, officers can question people about immigration status and ask to see identity documents. The Guardian reported that officers are not supposed to detain someone without reasonable suspicion that the person is an immigration offender.

Mothin Ali, deputy leader of the Green party, called the findings alarming and called on the government to “end these unjustified raids and protect people’s rights.” He said: “This is racist harassment dressed up as immigration enforcement.”

Ali also said: “The falling use of warrants is deeply concerning and raises serious questions about the legality of these operations. Britain must not import Trump’s ICE playbook.”

The Home Office said in August that arrests of people from abroad working illegally in the UK had doubled since Labour took office. It said more than 17,000 arrests had been made since July 2024, a 122% increase on the previous two years, and that 2026 had seen record numbers of immigration raids and arrests.

Opposition parties have claimed that opportunities to work illegally in the UK act as a pull factor for migrants, encouraging them to cross the Channel in small boats. Mahmood has said the expanded enforcement teams would remove that incentive, while the Home Office continues to defend its intelligence assessment and critics have called the warrant figures deeply concerning.