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| Some of the carers detained are being held at Morton Hall Immigration Removal Centre, Lincoln. Photo credit: Manchestermule |
Dozens of Nigerians care workers have been arrested in immigration raids across London and being held at various removal centres. The care workers were arrested for allegedly over staying their visas and have been told they will be forcibly removed from UK on a charter flight on Tuesday, reports The Guardian.
The UK Home Office Confirms that immigration enforcement officers conducted a simultaneous raids at residential addresses across London on 7 and 8 September, arrested and detained 34 care workers while another 21 were served with immigration documents and placed on temporary release.
“The intelligence led operation was conducted in response to allegations that foreign nationals have been using forged documentations to gain employment illegally as carers,” said a spokesman for The Home Office.
One of the Nigerian care workers who is being detained at Morton Hall Immigration Removal Centre in Lincoln is 37 year old Olusoji Bolarinwa, who received a Dignity in Care award in 2013 and has been nominated for the same honour this year.
Olusoji said, “We heard that up to 130 people were targeted in night-time raids earlier this month.”
“I was not at home when I was arrested. I was at a friend's house. They had not come looking for me, they came for my friend but when they found me at his house they arrested me too. These raids were terrible.”
Another detained care woman said that she was woken up in the early hours of the morning by battering on her door. “I thought there was a fire,” she said. “It is true that I had overstayed my visa but many of us have worked as carers for years and years, some for more than 10 years. In that time we have always paid our taxes, our national insurance and our pension contributions and have had all the police checks.
“Why did nobody raise the issue of our visas before now? I loved my job, I was providing personal care to old people. We were being paid peanuts but we didn’t mind because at least we had a roof over our heads and could send some money back to our families in Nigeria. Many carers have overstayed their visas. If the Home Office remove us all there are not going to be enough people to look after all the old and vulnerable people in this county.”
Meanwhile,One elderly client told the Guardian about her carer: “I miss her, she really knows me well and cares about me,... I didn’t understand at first why she went away without telling me. Other carers have come but I keep having to tell them what to do and it’s confusing.”
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