Jacob Rees-Mogg coldly brushes off SNP MP's concerns over Glasgow dawn raids.
THE Tory leader of the House of Commons brushed off an SNP MP’s concerns over immigration raids in Glasgow, telling her simply the “law must be enforced”.
Alison Thewliss raised the issue in the Chamber after Glasgow protesters surrounded a Home Office van for hours, forcing them to release two men detained in a dawn raid. She called for a Commons debate on the practice use in "civilised society".
This morning it emerged that the Home Office is determined to deport the two men, Lakhvir Singh and Sumit Sehdev, who have lived in Scotland for more than 10 years.
Singh, a mechanic, and Sehdev, a chef, are suspected of overstaying their visas after they were denied leave to remain.
Thewliss, who represents Glasgow Central, told Jacob Rees-Mogg: “Around this time last week the residents of Kenmure Street, Pollokshields, safely and peacefully assembled to prevent a Home Office immigration removal van from leaving. The cry ‘these are our neighbours, let them go’ rang out in the streets for many hours.
“Mr Speaker, I’m still waiting for a response from Home Office ministers as to why they were seeking to remove two of my constituents amidst a pandemic and on Eid al-Fitr. So can we have a debate on the practice of so-called dawn raids, and why they have no place in a civilised society?”
Rees-Mogg simply replied: “Mr Speaker, the law must be enforced.”
After the exchange, Thewliss criticised the “unhelpful response”.
She added that the Home Office “make huge and regular mistakes, and have been criticised for deporting first and asking questions later”.
“Windrush proved that beyond doubt,” she wrote. “And I still see Home Office errors regularly in my constituency casework.”
Speaking to The Times, a Home Office source said of the Kenmure Street men: “They will still be detained and deported at a later date … We will continue to tackle illegal immigration and the harm it causes.”
The UK Government will be likely to face a legal challenge. Robina Qureshi, director of Positive Action in Housing, said she and the organisation are exploring their options against the Home Office.
“They have been living and working peacefully in the community for years and it’s just a matter of not having the right paperwork,” she said. "They are not criminals, they are not costing anybody anything."