A Green Party council could use taxpayer money to fund a campaign that helps illegal immigrants avoid Home Office raids, according to reports.
Green councils across London have already pledged to stop working with the Home Office when its teams are active in the capital. Now Hackney Council could go further by funding a "public information campaign" advising illegal workers on how to resist the raids.
Council working with charity
Seem Syeda, of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, said the charity is "working with Hackney Council to potentially do a public information campaign" against the raids, the Mail reports.
Speaking at the Green Party conference in Brighton, which started on Friday, October 2, Ms Syeda said the move would see the council "share information to people about their rights and how they can resist raids".
Party leader criticises anti-migrant laws
Zack Polanski, the party's leader, slammed "anti-migrant laws" at the conference, adding that he believes they "carve up communities".
The Home Office has confirmed the raids are "vital to root unscrupulous employers and disrupt illegal workers abusing the system". It previously said that while it "always wants to join forces with local authorities, their decisions won’t hinder our operations when fighting immigration crime".
Council motion
Green councillor Nadia Barton Ahmad put forward a motion in the summer to back migrant businesses and those facing raids, but Labour councillors managed to vote it down.
Ms Barton Ahmad said yesterday: "We have local elections here in May, and so we are hoping that within a year we will be able to pass something similar."
