Migrant workers living in a caravan encampment raided by immigration enforcement officers have accused the Home Office of targeting the victims of labour exploitation rather than companies profiting from the hidden economy.

The Observer reported in August that about 30 mainly Brazilian delivery riders working for large companies such as Deliveroo and Uber Eats were living in dilapidated caravans in the centre of Bristol. Many claimed they were, in effect, earning below the minimum wage and could not afford to rent in the city.

Last week, it emerged their roadside encampment was raided by immigration enforcement officers on 3 October, with 17 people arrested and 13 people taken to detention centres in London. They now face potential removal from the UK even though some of them have lived in the country for years.

Celia Campos, 45, who works for both Deliveroo and Uber Eats, said about 20 immigration enforcement officers and police officers swept into the encampment in the middle of the night. “They arrived around 4am, knocking very hard and shouting to open the [caravan] doors – many of us woke up scared,” she said. “I’m outraged… fathers and mothers being searched as if they were animals. We are workers, not criminals.”

The new government has pledged to expand detention capacity and step up deportations, with those caught working illegally “detained and swiftly removed”.

The raid in Bristol was backed by Angela Eagle, the minister for border security and asylum, who said: “We are determined to clamp down both on illegal working and the exploitative treatment of illegal workers.”

However, Campos, who claims she earns below the minimum wage, said the raid had done nothing to help the workers living in the encampment. “[The Home Office] is going to the wrong place – they should be raiding the companies,” she said. “If the government was really concerned about workers, they would be looking for a way to better regulate these companies.”

Campos echoed calls by the deputy leader of Bristol council, Heather Mack, to give undocumented workers a route to citizenship to protect them from exploitation. Mack said: “Why not create a way to help immigrants work here legally? That way, they would be helping us and at the same time gaining more labour to help the country grow.”

There are estimated to be between 800,000 and 1.2 million undocumented migrants in the UK who do not have valid visas or other types of immigration documentation. More than half of them have been in the country for at least five years but there are few routes for people to regularise their immigration status compared with similar European countries.

Many end up working in the gig economy. Legitimate accounts on delivery apps are often rented out to undocumented workers, who have to pay a proportion of their earnings to the owner of the account.

The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB), which represents gig economy workers, called on the government to target companies exploiting migrant workers.

“Instead of going after the predatory employers whose business models are built on exploiting the desperate, the government opts over and over again for performative cruelty towards the people just trying to survive,” said Alex Marshall, president of the IWGB. “That government ministers should cheer on these Home Office attacks on unprotected workers is contemptible.”

Deliveroo, which recently fought off a seven-year legal challenge to secure more rights for gig economy riders, posted its first profit this year, reporting net earnings of £1.3m in the first half of 2024. Uber, which provides taxis and food deliveries, saw its UK pre-tax profits increase from £5m in 2021 to £32m in 2022.Some unions and MPs have criticised Deliveroo’s links with the Labour party. Deliveroo’s chief executive, Will Shu, attended a drinks party hosted by Keir Starmer in July. The company has also sponsored a series of Labour events, with its latest annual report showing that it spent £5,000 on a business reception at last year’s Labour conference.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat have already introduced – or will soon introduce – right-to-work checks on registered substitutes, with the responsibility to register substitutes being on the account holder and their account being at risk should they fail to do so.”

A Deliveroo spokesperson said all its riders must have the legal right to work in the UK. “We are the first major platform to roll out direct right-to-work checks, a registration process and identity verification technology for all riders. We are committed to strengthening our controls to prevent abuse of our platform.” It added that it offers riders attractive earning opportunities and protections including free insurance, sickness cover and financial support when riders become new parents.

An Uber Eats spokesperson said that all couriers must hold a valid right to work in the UK: “Any courier that fails to meet these criteria will no longer be able to use the Uber Eats app. We regularly engage with the Home Office and the police to ensure that all couriers using the app comply with UK laws.”