West Midlands Victim's Commissioner condemns Home Secretary's comments on modern slavery
Nicky Brennan has written a joint letter to the Home Office.
The Victim's Commissioner for the West Midlands has written to Suella Braverman following recent comments she made suggesting modern slavery is an issue of illegal immigration.
Nicky Brennan said the Home Secretary had shown “absolute disregard for the plight of those being exploited by organised criminal networks after claiming Britain is being 'invaded' by illegal immigrants."
In a letter, also backed by the West Midlands Anti-Slavery Network, Ms Brennan said she is "deeply troubled" that modern slavery is not being treated as a safeguarding issue and that "those in genuine need of care and support could potentially slip through the gaps".
The full letter can be seen here:
Ms Brennan said: "We are talking about some of the most vulnerable people in society. They don't need people to say they've been invading the country, they don't need their care to go in with immigration; it needs to stay with safeguarding."
"I'm very worried about the impact of this rhetoric on our society, and those people that need our support.
"These people need to be treated as victims, because that's what they are. Making people seem that they're criminals or treating them like criminals is not going to help the situation at all, it's going to make it worse."
The letter calls for the Home Office to increase funding for the National Crime Agency so it can effectively tackle organised immigration crime. It also calls for increased support for first responders to help identify potential victims, and for more resources for support services for those affected by exploitation.
In response to Ms Brennan's letter, a Home Office spokesperson said: "Modern slavery is a barbaric crime and we remain committed to stamping it out. We provide support to thousands of victims each year, as well as working with a wide range of partners to prevent this terrible crime from happening in the first place.
“However, it is clear people are abusing our system when they have no right to be here.
“That is why the Home Secretary has committed to reforming our response to modern slavery, to make sure that genuine victims are receiving the support that they need and deserve, whilst cracking down on those exploiting our modern slavery system”.