The officers were photographed carrying out visa checks (Picture: Twitter/@SaveKRLibrary)

Immigration officers have been accused of heavy-handed tactics after carrying out random visa checks on Tube passengers in north-west London.

Four officers demanded people prove their right to be in the UK before the morning rush hour at Kensal Green London Underground station, which is in one of the areas where the ‘go home’ illegal immigrant billboard van pilot scheme was tested.

Local resident Phil O’Shea told the Kilburn Times he was threatened with arrest when he asked what was taking place.

Sources meanwhile told Political Scrapbook that only non-white people were challenged by the officers.


The Home Office told Metro a Ukrainian woman, 33, and an Indian man, 44, were detained for entering the country illegally, while a 59-year-old Brazilian woman was arrested for overstaying her visa.

The London-based pilot scheme has now ended (Picture: Home Office)

The two women are due to be deported while the man has been placed on immigration bail.



‘We make no apology for enforcing our immigration laws and our officers carry out hundreds of operations every year around London. Where we find people who are in the UK illegally we will seek to remove them,’ the Home Office said.

Responding to reports the officers’ behaviour had been intimidating, a spokesperson added: ‘We take any allegations of inappropriate behaviour from our officers very seriously and operate a comprehensive complaints and investigation process for where detainees or members of the public believe they have been mistreated.’

The department’s controversial van pilot has now finished, but yesterday it emerged it could be rolled out nationwide.

Defending the scheme, immigration minister Mark Harper wrote in the Daily Mail: ‘Let me clear this up once and for all – it is not racist to ask people who are here illegally to leave Britain. It is merely telling them to comply with the law.’