UK ramps up hostile immigration policies as migrant groups sound alarm

Britain has introduced a series of hostile immigration policies, sparking outrage among migrant-led groups. Among them is Regularise, who warn these reforms, disguised as efforts to combat exploitation, send a clear message that the system values migrant labor, but not migrant lives.

UK fails to address the root cause of migrant exploitation

In early July, the Migrant Workers’ Rights Coalition (MWRC), wrote to the UK Home Secretary, expressing concern over the Government’s proposed Immigration White Paper. But just weeks later, the government rushed the changes through.

Munya Radzi, founder and campaigner at Regularise, writes in Big Issue:

The rushed changes—based on a white paper with barely six weeks of public scrutiny—were framed as a “reset”. In reality, they signal something far more sinister: an escalation of the hostile environment and a strategy to push through anti-migrant reforms widely criticized by migrant communities, the labor movement, and businesses across the UK.

While the government claims the new migration policies will tackle abuse, migrant groups argue that the system itself enables exploitation. The updates include removing over 100 jobs from the visa system, raising salary thresholds beyond the reach of many essential workers, and making settlement and citizenship harder to obtain through longer waits, higher fees, and stricter requirements.

Radzi continues:

[It] begins with the system. Tied visas make it dangerous to report abuse. Complex and punitive rules push people out of status over minor errors or unexpected crises. Years of unaffordable fees and delays make even those on formal routes vulnerable. The system itself enables harm.

For many already in the UK, the reforms mean they can no longer bring their families. Others now face uncertainty over their legal status. This has left migrant communities feeling anxious, afraid of detention, exploitation, losing their livelihoods, or even being deported. Since the white paper was introduced, Regularise has received a surge of messages filled with confusion, panic, and despair.

Raids and returns deals follow reforms

Just days after announcing the reforms, the Home Office launched a nationwide operation targeting asylum seekers working while awaiting decisions. Shortly afterward, Prime Minister Keir Starmer signed a migration agreement with French President Emmanuel Macron to further restrict irregular migration and announced a returns deal.

Call for policies grounded in dignity and humanity

Migrant workers are being blamed while public services crumble, wages stagnate, and inequality deepens. Yet it is migrants who are holding Britain together—working in food production, logistics, domestic work, construction, cleaning, and other essential sectors.

As Radzi puts it:

The notion of ‘skilled’ labor—repeated constantly by ministers—is rooted in classism and racism. Historically, it excluded women. Now, it targets racialized migrants. But there is no such thing as low-skilled care, or cleaning, or construction, or agriculture. There is only undervalued labor—and political choices that keep it that way.

Radzi and the Migrant Workers’ Rights Coalition are calling for immigration policies grounded in dignity and humanity, not fear.

Stand with migrant workers. Call for stronger anti-trafficking and safe migration policies.