jimmy
11-12-2007, 08:51 AM
5,000 'illegals' work in security
Nov 12 2007
About 5,000 illegal immigrants have been given clearance to work as security staff in highly sensitive jobs, the Home Office has admitted.
Some of those wrongly given licences by the Security Industry Authority (SIA) ended up working for the Metropolitan Police. Others reportedly found employment in Whitehall, and at ports and airports.
The blunders emerged only after officials realised the SIA had not been checking whether applicants were entitled to work in Britain.
Ministers immediately ordered a review of hundreds of thousands of licences issued since 2004, and the loophole was closed in July.
However, a Scotland Yard spokesman confirmed it had employed through a contractor staff who were later revealed as suspected illegal immigrants.
"On April 4 we were informed that a number of people working for a company contracted to the MPS were the subjects of an immigration investigation," the spokesman said.
"They were removed from MPS work and suspended by the contract company until the Immigration Service investigations were completed."
Shadow immigration minister Damian Green said the news was "extraordinary" when the Home Office had previously discovered it was employing illegal immigrants as cleaners.
The SIA was set up by the Home Office to regulate the security industry and started issuing licences in 2004. It reports directly to the department, and has so far cleared about 250,000 applicants.
A Home Office spokesman said the SIA had taken "immediate action" as soon as it had become aware that some licence holders were being employed illegally.
Nov 12 2007
About 5,000 illegal immigrants have been given clearance to work as security staff in highly sensitive jobs, the Home Office has admitted.
Some of those wrongly given licences by the Security Industry Authority (SIA) ended up working for the Metropolitan Police. Others reportedly found employment in Whitehall, and at ports and airports.
The blunders emerged only after officials realised the SIA had not been checking whether applicants were entitled to work in Britain.
Ministers immediately ordered a review of hundreds of thousands of licences issued since 2004, and the loophole was closed in July.
However, a Scotland Yard spokesman confirmed it had employed through a contractor staff who were later revealed as suspected illegal immigrants.
"On April 4 we were informed that a number of people working for a company contracted to the MPS were the subjects of an immigration investigation," the spokesman said.
"They were removed from MPS work and suspended by the contract company until the Immigration Service investigations were completed."
Shadow immigration minister Damian Green said the news was "extraordinary" when the Home Office had previously discovered it was employing illegal immigrants as cleaners.
The SIA was set up by the Home Office to regulate the security industry and started issuing licences in 2004. It reports directly to the department, and has so far cleared about 250,000 applicants.
A Home Office spokesman said the SIA had taken "immediate action" as soon as it had become aware that some licence holders were being employed illegally.