Home Office Raided Care Homes In Lockdown

London: Data from a Freedom of Information request has shown that the Home Office continued to carry out immigration raids in care homes throughout the pandemic. The data revealed that on average, the Home Office carried out a raid every 3 months in the 21 months up to September 2021, this included at least 1 raid in January during a national lockdown. Out of the seven raids that were carried out, six resulted in arrests, between 1 and 5 resulted in the apprehended person being detained.

Hostile Environment policy over public health
The revelation has led to concern that the Home Office were prioritizing their hostile environment policies over public health. Karolina Gerlich, chief executive of the Care Workers Charity said that the raids were unnecessary and put vulnerable individuals’ health at risk, she said: “We don’t believe it’s the right thing to do at any time. We believe there are better systems in place that could be used than raiding care homes. But to do it during Covid, during lockdown and potentially bringing the virus into care homes is very irresponsible and insensitive to the situation,”
The data was obtained by the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) who have also critised the Home Office’s actions. Their campaigns officer, Mary Atkinson, said “These are places where elderly people were barred from seeing or hugging loved ones for months on end, and many still have stringent contact rules in place. But apparently the Home Office saw fit to barge into these homes and arrest carers looking after vulnerable people…They reveal a government that is willing to pursue its hostile environment at all costs, instead of prioritising the public’s care and wellbeing.”

Read more: IAS, https://rb.gy/1ndoue