Migrants working illegally are laughing at taxpayers - one thing has to change

The Daily Express has forced the Home Office to take action against asylum seekers working illegally while staying in taxpayer-funded migrant hotels. Minister for Border Security and Asylum Dame Angela Eagle thanked this newspaper for exposing migrants apparently working illegally as delivery couriers from a central London hotel just two miles from the Palace of Westminster.

Our reporter, Zak Garner-Purkis, filmed at least 10 men, who were clearly residents at the hotel, getting onto electric bikes with Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats-branded carriers on their backs and mobile phones attached to their handlebars. When he confronted them, he was met with hostility. A few sped at him. Others covered their faces, suggesting they knew they had been caught red-handed.

Several who weren't working were also caught on camera drinking and smoking marijuana which, although commonplace in our towns and cities, remains illegal. One man outside the hotel threatened to smash our reporter's face in.

All this in a busy local neighbourhood where youngsters were on their way to school and ordinary people were trying to go about their business.

You might be wondering where the police, security or Home Office officials were while all this was taking place. They were nowhere to be seen. Predictably, not one copper or immigration enforcement officer was on the case. Eventually one security guard poked his head in - but only to film our reporter. None of them seemed interested in the criminal behaviour visible around them perpetrated by the young men - and they were all young men - ostensibly under their supervision, if not care.

Which begs the question: what on earth are we paying them for then? The Home Office employs more than 40,000 people with an annual budget of roughly £20billion. The Met Police is manned by almost 46,000 officers and staff.

Migrant hotels, which are supposed to be keeping tabs on asylum seekers and illegal migrants, are costing UK taxpayers a fortune. Official figures from 2023-2024 put the total bill for housing migrants in hotels at £3billion.

For the record, migrants who arrive illegally in the UK are not allowed to work for at least a year after they arrive. Even if they are then allowed to work, they still cannot work as delivery couriers under Home Office rules designed to protect British workers.

So why has it taken a Daily Express reporter with a GoPro camera to reveal that many of these young men are blatantly flouting the rules? Clearly the system, such as it is, is not working. Something is broken.

Dame Angela told the Express she will meet food delivery companies next week to discuss how illegal migrants can come to be working as couriers within hours of arriving in the UK, as has been reported elsewhere. I think she's speaking to the wrong people.

The minister must first speak to the hotels taking millions of pounds from taxpayers courtesy of the Home Office yet allowing migrants to break the rules, and the law, under their noses. It defies belief that they could have had no knowledge of what is going on. And this is one hotel alone in London. Across the country there are, according to Hansard, 220 hotels in total housing thousands of illegal migrants.

Rather than challenging migrants, the hotel we visited in London yesterday has erected what amounts to a park for its residents to leave their expensive courier bikes behind, literally helping cover up their behaviour.

While everyone should be treated with respect and compassion, there is no excuse for breaking the law or the rules. Taxpayers will be rightly horrified at fresh evidence that some of those seeking asylum are, in fact, cynical economic migrants.

Ms Eagle is right to take action, and we applaud her for doing so. However, we ask again: why has it taken an investigation by the Daily Express for anything to be done about this? Migrant hotels allowing this to happen must clearly sort out their act, or lose their lucrative contracts with the Government. Ministers should also have the option of going to the courts to get taxpayers' money back.

Dame Angela could start by asking questions of her own department. Does anyone in the Home Office care about protecting Britain's borders? Do they have any intention of deporting criminal migrants? And what more can be done to keep the public safe?

Many of us who live in big cities have become accustomed to delivery couriers on powerful e-bikes and scooters, sometimes breaking the rules of the road and putting pedestrians and motorists in danger. For us to now consider that many of them may be working illegally, presumably without insurance, documentation or official sanction, is alarming.

The system is clearly broken, and must be fixed. Vague promises are not enough.