Home Office 'Go Home or Face Arrest' illegal immigrant campaign drew 1,561 texts - mostly hoaxes
The controversial Home Office campaign which featured vans displaying posters telling illegal immigrants to ‘go home or face arrest’ prompted 1,561 text messages to be sent, of which, 1,034 were found to be hoax.
The campaign, which toured six London boroughs between July and August as a pilot, drew complaints over racism. It was later cleared by the Advertising Standards Authority of being offensive, but banned on grounds of being misleading. The adverts featured a textline number and encouraged people to text in for advice and help with travel documents.
A report released by the Home Office also claims that the campaign cost a total of £9,740, but gained widespread media coverage as a result of the resulting controversy.
The report revealed that the level of hoax texts sent, which apparently took up 17 hours of staff time to deal with, did however see 11 people leave the country as a result - although the first, a student from Pakistan, did so having read about it in The Guardian.
The report goes on to claim that 60 people left the UK voluntarily as a result of the campaign, which also included local newspaper adverts, leaflets, posters and window postcards. A further 65 cases are said to be still in progress.
There is no plan to roll the campaign out any further, the report also confirms.