The officers were tooled up with batons, handcuffs and police gear—and made sure “the threat of force was visible” according to one eyewitness.
But this wasn’t Donald Trump’s Ice—or even a restaurant in the US. The raid took place only last week in south west England under Andy Burnham’s Labour government.
Ten officers piled out of two vans. They didn’t introduce themselves or show any identification.
They stormed into the restaurant, locking it down and blocking all exits. “It was a raid, it wasn’t a spot check”, Max, who works at the restaurant, told Socialist Worker.
“They didn’t explain why they were there. They demanded to see IDs and right to work documents. They completely ignored the white bartenders and went straight to the Asian chefs.”
Max explained that “the air of suspicion” was on “all the non-white members of staff”. “White members of staff didn’t even get a check,” he said.
At the restaurant, the immigration officers made workers get their documents. People stood on the streets outside watching. “The fear among the chefs was that, if they didn’t answer the questions, they would end up in a van,” Max said.
The officers found that everyone had a right to work in Britain and no one was detained.
One officer informally told a restaurant worker that around 70 percent of raids don’t come to anything. The raid only came about because of an anonymous tip.
Max thought that “a key part was the intimidation”. “They want the threat of force to be visible,” he said.
“It wasn’t just a person in a suit and clipboard coming to check paperwork. It was handcuffs, batons and full police gear.”
The Labour government boasted in January that “raids have reached the highest level in Britain’s history” since it won the general election two years ago.
“Latest figures reveal the number of raids have soared by 77 percent, leading to an 83 percent rise in arrests,” it said.
“The major uplift, which led to more than 12,300 arrests, was made possible by a £5 million funding boost last year for Immigration Enforcement.”
The raids are designed to intimidate migrant workers. As Max said, “We deal with health inspectors all the time and people have made anonymous complaints about our food.
“The health inspector comes in with a clipboard and checks. They don’t come in with batons and vans.”
He said the message being sent was “as a non-white person you must know your place and expect this”. “The presumption is guilt unless they could definitively prove their right to work,” he said.
One of the first things restaurant workers spoke about afterwards was the Ice-style United States immigration system.
Burnham has not broken with Keir Starmer’s war on migrants—in fact, he has doubled down. He kept right winger Shabana Mahmood as home secretary and backed her plans to make it harder for migrants to come to and live in Britain.
One worker slammed Burnham “for giving a pretence of running a more just and fair system”.
“But it is just rhetoric as the Donald Trump-style immigration system creeps in more and more,” they said.
Labour has tried to “out-Reform” Reform UK. And it wants to scapegoat migrants and refugees for problems caused by politicians, big business and the super-rich, such as low wages and the lack of housing.
Max thought that “it is a losing strategy” with politicians “always focusing on the negatives and illegalities” of immigration.
“Dividing communities plays into Reform UK’s hands,” he said.
“We need an alternative. These chefs are members of a community. They are friends, colleagues, and human beings.”