Immigration Enforcement (IE) is the arm of the Home Office that carries out this control. On paper it exists to “protect” the public and the economy. In practice, it means surveillance, checks and removals through reporting, raids, detention and deportation targeting people already facing racism, poverty and insecure status.

Since taking office, the Labour government has sharply increased immigration enforcement, with record levels of workplace raids, arrests and detention across the UK. In the year from 1 October 2024 to 30 September 2025, Immigration Enforcement teams carried out more than 11,000 illegal working visits and made over 8,000 arrests – a 51% and 63% increase on the previous year. Campsfield Immigration Detention Centre, which closed in 2018 after many years of resistance and protests, reopened on 4 December 2025, expanding the immigration detention estate. 

With the new Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025 now in force, and the government’s “Restoring Order and Control” asylum and returns plan doubling down on raids, reporting and removals, it’s more important than ever that our communities have clear knowledge, share it widely, and use it to build collective power and protection.

Our new Key Guide on Immigration Enforcement, Reporting and Raids is a practical response to this. It explains what immigration enforcement looks like in our communities:

• immigration bail and the different types of reporting (in-person, phone, digital and tagging)
  
• what happens at reporting including risk of detention and travel assistance
  
• immigration raids and street operations – what powers officers really have to enter homes, workplaces and public spaces, and when you do (and don’t) have to answer questions.

The guide also includes practical action sections on:

• preparing for reporting events (including phone and digital reporting)
  
• how to support someone who is reporting
  
• what to do if Immigration Enforcement approach you in public
  
• what to do if they come to your home or workplace, including suggestions of how to respond
  

The guide sits alongside our updated Key Guide on Immigration Detention and free detention fact sheets, and new Knowledge is Power sessions.

Right to Remain is in the process of scaling up our work in this area. We stand in solidarity with our communities, always. 

Right to Remain Team