Britons using cash-only nail bars, barbers or car washes are ‘feeding the problem’ of illegal migration and could be creating more victims of slavery, a top Home Office official has warned.
Bas Javid, the director general of immigration enforcement, said that working in the UK’s black economy is a ‘pull factor’ for those coming to the country illegally.
This includes those who make dangerous voyages in small boats across the Channel after people-smuggling rings hawk Britain as ‘the land of milk and honey’.
Mr Javid, a former top police officer and the brother of Tory ex-home secretary Sajid Javid told the Sunday Times: ‘People should recognise they are contributing to it and if they are, they are feeding the problem.
‘Part of our job… has to be to educate the wider public that if you do use illegal car washes or go to illegal nail bars then you are feeding the problem, and at the end of that there are victims.’
Although he said there were legitimate reasons for some businesses to only accept cash, Mr Javid urged customers to ‘look at the conditions and the way that people operate’.
‘I think we’ve got to strike the balance of making sure that people are cognisant and aware that this environment of illegal working activity and exploitation exists,’ he added.
New figures from the Office for National Statistics showed net migration – the difference between the number of people arriving and leaving the country – hit a record 906,000 in 2023.
Mr Javid told the newspaper there was no exact figure for the number of illegal migrants in the UK, but said the majority – about two-thirds – arrived through legal routes rather than on small boats.
More than 33,000 illegal migrants have crossed the Channel this year – including more than 20,000 since Sir Keir Starmer has been Prime Minister and already above the 29,437 total for 2023.
‘A lot of people who come into the UK who end up being here illegally, the large majority arrive through legal routes,’ he said.
‘A good portion of those people arrive entirely legally and then during their time here, for one reason or another – that could be because they turn to criminality, or it could be they just overstay their visa – they become illegal.’
Mr Javid said this includes people who apply for student visas for top universities and deliberately overstay.
Those in positions of power need to carry out their duties effectively. All that is required is for the authorities to investigate these “cash only” establishments to see whether they are legally permitted in the UK and for the Inland Revenue to confirm that these companies are registered, maintaining accounts, and paying the relevant taxes.
Asking people not to utilise these places is pointless. Why don’t the government raid them, deport the illegal workers, and then impose heavy fines on the owners? They expect us to perform their work for them by boycotting these establishments, therefore it’s no good stating we should avoid them when they don’t take any action to shut them down.
However, people are also the problem because we expect the government to stop a business from trading, but we are happy to use it.
Cash typically eliminates the need for a paper trail, and although everyone is aware of the shady dealings, no one pays any attention.
Our officials find it much easier to condemn the general public, but they don’t mind letting a tsunami of illegal immigrants into our country.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 