DOREEN Lawrence, the mother of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence, has asserted that ‘racial profiling’ is being used in immigration police stop-and-check operations.
She spoke out after it was revealed that, using the ‘vans of hate’ and their ‘go home or face arrest’ posters, nearly 140 people have been arrested in a wave of raids aimed at frightening and intimidating people.
Commenting on a scheme where spot checks have been carried out at railway stations as part of a ‘crackdown on illegal immigration’, she said: ‘Why would you focus mainly on people of colour?
‘I’m sure there’s illegal immigrants from all countries, but why would you focus that on people of colour. I think racial profiling is being used.’
Some 139 people have been arrested at locations in London, Durham, Manchester, Wales and Somerset.
Spot checks on people’s immigration status are being carried out at London train and tube stations by UK Border Agency staff.
Phil O’Shea witnessed one of the operations earlier this week in Kensal Green, north London.
He told the Kilburn Times: ‘I thought the behaviour of the immigration officers was heavy-handed and frightening.
‘They appeared to be stopping and questioning every non-white person, many of whom were clearly ordinary Kensal Green residents going to work.
‘When I queried what was going on I was threatened with arrest for obstruction and was told to “crack on”.’
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘We make no apology for enforcing our immigration laws, and our officers carry out hundreds of operations like this every year around London.
‘Where we find people who are in the UK illegally, we will seek to remove them.’
The Home Office has been accused of targeting non-whites and using ‘heavy-handed’ tactics in a new immigration crackdown to tackle people working illegally in the UK.
Meanwhile, the Unite union has said it is seeking legal advice about whether the Home Office ‘incited racial hatred’ by sending vans around London with posters proclaiming ‘in the country illegally? – go home or face arrest’.
Young Socialists national secretary Joshua Ogunleye told News Line: ‘This is state-sponsored racism.
‘If the government won’t stop this practice then the trade unions must take action, including strike action to stop it.’
