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10 Oct, 2017

U.K. Home Office accused of racial profiling against British citizens

Members of Parliament and human rights lawyers are calling on the Home Office to review how immigration officers carry out spot checks after data suggested that they were using racial profiling and stopping Britons. 

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, working with the media co-operative, The Bristol Cable, has obtained new Home Office data. The data shows that over 19,000 British citizens, out of a total of 102,552 people, were caught up in immigration checks over the last five years – nearly one in five. 

Human rights lawyers say that this high proportion of British citizens suggests that “the checks are led by racial profiling”. The Labour MP, Stella Creasy, who has previously raised the issue of raids in her own constituency, is calling on the Home Office to “urgently review” its practices and told the Bureau: “the blanket targeting of communities like mine is neither intelligent nor effective”.

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