Well done for stepping in. Like a lot of bullies, these clowns will often back down when challenged by someone who isn't afraid of them.

You're basically right about refusing to speak to them. They need "legitimate suspicion" to stop and question someone, and you have the right to "no comment". We need to get this information spread as widely as possible so that people without papers know that what these guys are doing is illegal and can be challenged. Though of course cops and immigration officials routinely break the law if they think they can get away with it, so they might well just pull someone in who refused to talk and make an excuse afterwards. They are less likely to do this the more confident you are and if you appear to know your rights. (Language skills are often a problem here though.)

One other thing that might help, besides just saying nothing, is to make a big point of asking why you are being stopped, and suggesting that it is racial profiling. A few other responses could be: "What is your reason for stopping me?" "You need a legitimate reason to stop me." "I won't talk to you without a lawyer." "I think this is racist. You stopped me just because of my race." Challenging them on their racial profiling might just scare them off as they could be getting themselves into trouble.

From talking to experienced immigration lawyers, though, it seems that a lot of their powers and activities haven't really been challenged in court properly. If we start taking legal actions against them for racial profiling etc. this might have some ripples and make them change their tactics.

This stuff seems to be getting even more common. Unfortunately, I think you're wrong about them stopping "STOPS". They still do these fishing expeditions, without cops in tow, where they stand about eyeballing people and then pounce on anyone who looks nervous (called an "adverse reaction to the presence of an immigration officer", which they use as a "legitimate suspicion"). For example see this video of a STOP in Straftord:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chQVBpA3g68
Stratford station still seems to be one of their favourite haunts of late.

We need to get organised and:

1) Spread info amongst migrant communities about how to deal with these attacks (bustcards, hotlines, skillshares, etc. - some people from the Stop Deportations network have started doing some work on this with public meetings and leafleting in Peckham recently -- see  https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2012/03/494135.html)

2) Set up effective networks, phone-trees, etc. so we can get people with papers (or without but who are unafraid to confront them) to raids as they happen

3) Film them, gather evidence, and challenge them legally as well as extra-legally

Get in touch and let's get together to fight this bullshit.

Its also worrying that the UKBA were specifically targetting Ghanaians.

Ghana has recently become one of the 5 countries they run mass deportation charter flights to.

The last one was on 15th February 2012, I don't know when the next one will be.

For more info on deportations to Ghana, see  https://stopdeportations.wordpress.com/ghana/

Well done for challenging the UKBA.

Its great you challenged them & took notes of this. Yes, unfortunately these seem to be increasing in frequency and we can expect more in the run up to the Olympics, since there's going to be a lot more cops on the street and they often do checks in the Olympic borough of Newham anyway. Some groups are starting to work in this field - get in touch with the Stop Deportation Network or No Borders if you want to get involved.

Despite it being a common way of apprehending undocumented migrants, it is important to note that as yet the law in this area has not been challenged, so nothing is certain. Walking away and ignoring them completely is not considered to be the wisest course of action due to the adverse reaction principle, but people can try to find a middle ground between giving their details and ignoring them completely. If possible people being checked need to ask them questions about the legality of the operation (see below).

Immigration Officers (IOs) need reasonable suspicion X has committed an immigration offence, and most checks seem to be speculative (so unlawful). So, if you are a British citizen or someone with more secure immigration status, some general tips in these circumstances are:

- Tell the person immediately that they don't have to give their name, nationality, address, show them their visa etc
- Challenge the IOs/police. Ask them why they are stopping X, that they need to have reasonable suspicion, ask what that reasonably suspicion is, tell them that its unlawful to stop someone on the basis of race, and if - that's what they're doing - that its racist
- Film the cops/IOs
- Get others involved, filming etc
- Be aware that there is an offence of obstruction under s 26 (1)(g) 1971 Immigration Act, which applies to all regardless of immigration status. The offence is committed where you obstruct an Immigration Officer in the execution of the Act. It is thought that something additional is required, such as physical obstrcution, but if the check is *lawful* then you it is possible that if you intervene and try to stop it you would be deemed to be committing an offence. Again, it has not yet been tested in the courts.

Yes I think the writer is mistaken about no longer using an adverse reaction as the basis of a check (unless they can tell us where they heard this?)

Best thing to do, if you see those brave officers of the law talking to anyone, is to crowd around, once they are outnumbered they will soon go back to their sties. If we give them an inch they will take a mile. The state is just trying us to see how far they can push. If they start coming on really strong, traveling around in gangs, carrying guns and not doing the usual PR exercises with the public, the public are going to stop supporting them, and then we shall be winning our freedom.

yeah, I've been told that STOPs still happen and saw that youtube clip the same night i wrote it but some reason thought it was quite old (was in a bit of a rush and quite late) so ive amended the original.
Ive corresponded with some immigration specialists and yeah its a grey area and some of the tactics above are better. Im guessing theres no case law on this yet.
SLSF are intouch with a new anti raids campaign which looks promising and hopefully can mobilise as well as inform.
Thanks for posting this info. Im new to the laws on this and just followed a trail and thought it was interesting so thanks.

the source for the suspension of STOPs in London was the Freedom of Information documents. Re-reading, it was irresponsible of me to suggest not talking as a way of getting out of questioning. Ive edited the article to reflect the greyness of area. Like I said it was a bit rushed and i didnt realise many people would read it (people dont usually!).

Im going to write something else soon including the comments above and from elswhere. Thanks again.