Lawyer blasts Home Office for creating 'hostile environment' in Rotherham

Zaiban Alam said she had been shocked to see an immigration van and around six officers in McDonald's car park near Eastwood at around 9.30pm on May 8.

Ms Alam, who is on the board of directors for JUST Yorkshire, a racial justice, civil liberties and human rights group, said: "Having seen this, with the backdrop of what's been happening recently, I was concerned, because we have just had many weeks of the Windrush scandal.

"What was concerning to me is we've just had a home secretary (Amber Rudd) give false information to the House of Commons in terms of numbers being deported and targets being met, and the scandal relating to the deliberately hostile environment created."

Prime Minister Theresa May was blasted for her "hostile environment" strategy as home secretary after vans with the message 'go home' were driven around six London boroughs with areas of high migration.

Ms Alam found it "disturbing" to see the enforcement van parked near Eastwood, where approximately 70 per cent of the population are from a BAME  - black, Asian, and minority ethnic - background.

"What message is that sending out, bearing in mind what's just happened with the Windrush scandal?" she said.

"I decided I would take a picture of what I had seen and as soon as I got out my camera and started taking pictures two officers approached me."

Ms Alam said a confrontational officer had asked her to stop, adding: "I told her I had only taken a picture of the van, which I was entitled to do, at which point she turned on her heels."

The lawyer said the vans, which she had never seen in Rotherham before, could put fear into the hearts of people who are here perfectly legitimately.

“If I can feel it in my privileged position, how will it make others feel?” she added.

“Because of the job I do, I have a voice that other people don’t. The situation could have ended differently if it was someone who didn’t know their rights or had no knowledge of the law.”

Ms Alam posted a photo of the van on social media with a message that read: "Hostile environment alive and kicking outside McDonald's in Rotherham tonight. If youre BAME and visible in Rotherham please keep safe."

Twitter user Penny Wangari-Jones replied: "I know people who have panic attacks when they see these vans because of what the Home Office has put them through."

Ms Alam said the vans should be unbranded if a less intimidating approach was being taken.

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "An effective immigration system is one that welcomes people who are legally in the UK while at the same time taking action against those living here illegally."

She said immigration enforcement officers had visited a number of addresses in Rotherham on May 8, acting on intelligence related to suspected criminality.