Immigration Enforcement


Immigration Enforcement is a law enforcement command within the Home Office, responsible for enforcing immigration law across the United Kingdom. The force was part of the now defunct UK Border Agency from its establishment in 2008 until Home Secretary Theresa May demerged it in March 2012 after severe criticism of the senior management. Immigration Enforcement was formed on 1 March 2012, becoming accountable directly to ministers.
The force's responsibilities include preventing abuse, tracking immigration offenders and increasing compliance with immigration law. Its officers are warranted as immigration officers, holding various powers of arrest and detention. Officers work in the UK and overseas, including inland and at air and sea ports, often in partnership with Border Force.
The work of Immigration Enforcement is monitored by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration.

History

Former Home Secretary Theresa May announced the abolition of the UK Border Agency on 26 March 2013, with the intention that its work would be returned to the Home Office. The agency's executive agency status was removed and internally it was split into two, with one division responsible for the visa system and other for immigration law enforcement. This was eventually split further into Border Force and Immigration Enforcement, with the two agencies forming two separate commands within the Home Office.

Departments

Immigration Enforcement has a number of internal departments, including Criminal & Financial Investigation which is a non-uniformed, investigatory unit much like the Criminal Investigation Department within territorial police forces, responsible for investigating criminality surrounding immigration, such as the production of false documents. IE also has its own Intelligence Department, which is responsible for gathering and disseminating information, as well as other functions.
Immigration Enforcement has signed up to the Professionalising Investigations Programme.
The organisation works closely with other bodies including the police, National Crime Agency, Border Force, UK Visas and Immigration, and the National Document Fraud Unit.

Immigration Compliance and Enforcement (ICE)

ICE teams ensure compliance with immigration laws and carry out enforcement where necessary, including tracking down illegal migrants and targeting companies employing workers illegally.
Officers utilise their powers to execute warrants, identify offenders and take them into custody to facilitate their removal from the UK. The majority of raids target commercial premises, where workers can be employed illegally holding no status in the UK. As such, companies found to be employing workers illegally are referred to the CFI and other agencies.
There are 19 ICE teams across the UK.

Criminal and Financial Investigation (CFI)

The primary role of the unit is to investigate and disrupt serious organised crime groups who are seeking to undermine the UK's immigration controls at the border and inland via various
criminal means. These teams are regionally based and are made up of immigration officers and seconded police officers who work in joint investigation teams as part of the Home Office.
CFI Teams originally started in the UK Border Agency as the agency's own investigation teams, covering both immigration investigations and customs investigations, mainly drug seizures, that were not undertaken by the National Crime Agency
Criminal and Financial Investigations teams focus on investigating eight main categories of crime which support other work streams. Those categories include:
  1. Trafficking in human beings and Modern Slavery Act 2015 offences, this could be trafficking for:
  2. *sexual exploitation
  3. *organ harvesting
  4. *forced labour
  5. *other forms of involuntary servitude
  6. Facilitation through:
  7. *lorry drops
  8. *marriage abuse
  9. *college abuse
  10. *rogue employers
  11. *producing or supplying counterfeit or forged documents
  12. *other means
  13. Cash seizures of over £1,000 referred from Immigration Compliance and Enforcement teams and others, under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
Officers in CFI, who have the same arrest powers as a police constable under Section 24 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, are required to pass the Immigration Enforcement Investigators Exam, similar to the National Investigators Exam in policing but which has been amended to remove some of the policing syllabus and additionally test immigration knowledge, before completing the Initial Crime Investigators Development Programme . Once officers have completed their portfolio, they are added to the IE criminal investigators register.

Defunct Units

Rapid Response Team (RRT)

The RRT was originally set up as a temporary role in 2019 but was made a substantive department in August 2020 - the team is a nationwide taskforce and has no physical office. The team was established to provide IE with a mobile taskforce that was capable of responding to a wide array of incidents and taskings, with a large focus placed on counter-terrorism and detecting immigration offences that would otherwise go unnoticed.
This is a multi-function team of specialist immigration officers that have received additional training and can be sent on a multitude of deployments, including:
  • seaport deployments to assist Border Force and police with landing foot/car passengers and checking freight
  • airport taskings to assist Border Force and police with security/counter-terrorism operations
  • urgent response to critical incidents
  • assisting with police / NCA-led operations
  • bolstering ICE and CFI teams on residential / business visits
  • conducting street operations to intercept high-harm offenders
  • executing maritime operations at unmanned small ports
  • deploying on cutters / coastal patrol vessels and patrolling the coastline
Officers can be deployed at a moments notice and have been frequently seen in Dover during the "Small Boats Crisis" of 2020/21, alongside the permanently deployed CORT team.
RRT has a PIP1 capacity, allowing the team to prosecute for low-level immigration offences.
Officers are generally recruited to the RRT from local ICE teams, but can also be recruited from Border Force and other Home Office departments.

Clandestine Operational Response Team (CORT)

CORT was originally established in early 2020 in response to the increased arrival of small boats that were setting off from France to the UK, through the English Channel. This team was directly responsible for the operations at both Western Jetfoil in Dover and Manston arrivals and processing centre. Previously, it was also based at Tug Haven but this site closed in January 2022. The team was in charge of processing arrivals, conducting basic checks and arranging for migrants to be transported onwards. CORT also responded to reports of beach landings around the southeast coast, working with Kent Police to intercept those who had landed and fled. In fulfilling their frontline duties, CORT officers received assistance from other areas of Immigration Enforcement, such as Crime and Financial Investigation.
The team was in direct command of all the Border Force and Immigration Enforcement officers deployed to assist them; the Clandestine Threat Command was the parent department that was responsible for deploying CORT and other teams such as RRT, GA/GM and ICE.
CORT was disbanded in January 2023 when Border Force took full command of the Small Boats Crisis - the team was replaced with the Small Boats Operational Command which falls under Border Force branding, as there is no longer any Immigration Enforcement involvement.

Powers

Arrest officers are warranted and derive the majority of their powers from the Immigration Act 1971, although some powers are acquired from the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 and the UK Borders Act 2007, as well as others.
In the vast majority of cases, Immigration Officers will use "administrative powers" under Schedule 2 of the Immigration Act 1971. Said powers include the execution of warrants and the power of arrest, as well as powers to search arrested persons and to search premises for evidence relating to a person's immigration status. These powers are used to start a process of "removing" a person administratively - this is often confused with "deportation", which is a different process entirely. Once an IO has arrested a subject, they must seek authority to detain them and serve paperwork upon them. If and when this is granted, the authority must then be sought to remove the subject back to their country of origin, possibly through an EU nation or via another transit point. This process ensures that no single officer can remove an individual from the United Kingdom without question - the arresting IO must explain and account for their actions before a CIO / HMI will approve detention and removal. In the event of a senior officer making an arrest, he/she must still obtain authority from another senior officer to detain and serve paperwork.
Others include "28" powers of the Immigration Act 1971, which are similar to those in Schedule 2, but are criminal powers and not administrative. These are rarely used by standard arrest officers, but still form a large part of an IO's powers. These powers are more likely to be used in cases of "high harm" offenders and other cases where a subject is likely to face prosecution.
It is an offence to obstruct or assault an IO. Officers can arrest anyone if they suspect them of committing such an offence. The powers of arrest are contained within Section 28A of the Immigration Act 1971 and Section 23 of the UK Borders Act 2007 respectively.
Since 2013, CFI officers were designated with additional powers to a typical Immigration Officer. These were introduced to increase accountability, and reduce confusion during multi-agency working. These powers were added under Police and Criminal Evidence Order 2013. These powers can only be executed for criminal investigations, and by specially trained and designated officers. The PACE order 2013 affords Criminal Investigators the same powers as a constable in relation to arrest, entry and search.