Some 234 people have been arrested following 187 immigration enforcement raids in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
It comes amid numbers of raids across the UK deemed the highest on record, up by 77%, leading to an 83% rise in arrests between July 2024 and December 2025.<\/p>\n
Businesses, including nail bars, car washes, barbers and take away shops, were among those targeted in more than 17,400 raids UK-wide, which resulted in more than 12,300 arrests.<\/p>\n
It follows a \u00a35 million funding boost last year for Immigration Enforcement, to target and pursue illegal working criminality.<\/p>\n
In Northern Ireland, 187 raids were carried out in 2025, leading to 234 arrests \u2013 a 76% and 169% rise respectively compared to 2024.<\/p>\n
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood stated there is \u201cno place for illegal working in our communities\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is why we have surged enforcement activity to the highest level in British history so illegal migrants in the black economy have nowhere to hide,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will stop at nothing to restore order and control to our borders.\u201d<\/p>\n
Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn said: \u201cIllegal working undercuts honest businesses across Northern Ireland and fuels the criminal gangs who profit from human exploitation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis Government has increased enforcement to record levels, and the message is clear: there is no heading place for those flouting the law.\u201d<\/p>\n
Immigration Compliance and Enforcement Lead for Northern Ireland, Paul McHarron, said teams will \u201ccontinue working around the clock to ensure those involved face the full force of the law\u201d.<\/p>\n
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ADVERTISEMENT – CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some 234 people have been arrested following 187 immigration enforcement raids in Northern Ireland. It comes amid numbers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":692140,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[6853,83198,40,62507,1144,60422,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-692139","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-hilary-benn","9":"tag-illegal-working","10":"tag-immigration","11":"tag-immigration-enforcement","12":"tag-northern-ireland","13":"tag-shabana-mahmood","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115884955143636345","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=692139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/692140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=692139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=692139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=692139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}