UK:EPSON FACTORY, ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT RAID

[Anonymous]

Epson Telford factory in illegal immigrant raid
May
05

Almost 60 workers have been
arrested at Epson Telford’s ink cartridge
factory in Telford, Shropshire, during a raid by police and immigration
officers.

The incident, which will be followed by a period of close
co-operation between Epson Telford and the immigration authorities, was done
with the full knowledge and approval of the company’s management.

The
authorities became suspicious when Epson sent identification documents of its
workers to the UK Immigration Authority for routine checking.

Following
the raid and resulting investigation, as many as 37 workers were identified as
living in the UK illegally, a spokeswoman from the Home Office told OPI. She
added that, at last count, 27 were in detention pending deportation, of which 22
were from Ghana.

Spokeswoman for Epson Telford Val Dawson told OPI:
“Telford is an industrial area where many multinationals are employed, so we
work closely with the immigration authorities to ensure documents are checked.
This takes time, so when the authorities became suspicious, the workers in
question were already working at the factory.

“But as soon as they
requested a site visit, we immediately cooperated,” she added.

[Author]

May 9, 2005 at 10:02 AM