THE Home Secretary has said that dawn raids will continue in Scotland despite public backlash in Glasgow.
Just two weeks ago, hundreds of Glaswegians surrounded a Home Office van on Kenmure Street to stop the deportation of two men.
The demonstration lasted for eight hours, with locals lying underneath the van and across the South Side street.
The two men - named Sumit Sehdev and Lakhvir Singh - were eventually released to a cheering crowd.
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In the wake of the protest, Home Secretary Priti Patel was pressed by BBC's Andrew Marr on whether she would change the immigration enforcement approach.
She said: “The government has a responsibility to remove people from the United Kingdom with no legal status to be here and that includes some of the individuals from national offences and people that have brought great harm to our country.
"So, we will continue to enforce our laws and legislation to remove those with no legal basis for being the UK.”
Separately, Patel told Sky News that calls from Nicola Sturgeon to abandon the raids were trying to "thwart the safety and security of the British public."
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She said: "It is a sorry state of affairs that we see the nationalists in Scotland basically trying thwart the safety and security of the British public but also trying to prevent the British government from removing those with no legal basis to be in the United Kingdom.
“When it comes to the nationalists in Scotland they would much rather have an immigration policy of open borders, no checks when it comes to criminals coming to the UK and no border controls.”
“I think actually her comments also reflect the nationalist position when it comes to removing people that have no legal basis to be in the UK. This has nothing to do with with Eid at all immigration enforcement are absolutely doing their job in terms of removing people with no legal basis the UK.”
In the meantime, UK immigration officials have vowed to press ahead with the deportations of Mr Sehdev and Mr Singh after their release onto Kenmure Street.
“They will still be detained and deported at a later date,” a Home Office source told the Times.
“We will continue to tackle illegal immigration and the harm it causes.”
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