Immigration unit racist, claim staff

White immigration officers regularly refer to black and Asian people as "savages" and "spear-chuckers", two whistleblowers will tell a tribunal.

Racist language was said to be common at the Home Office unit responsible for the deportation of illegal immigrants.

The officials, Jamil Ahmed and Raja Khan, are launching a race discrimination case against the Immigration and Nationality Department, saying their careers were blighted as Asians in a largely white workforce.

The men say they are victims of "verbal harassment" due to "racially offensive language such as 'savages' and ' spearchuckers' being used regularly in their presence about black and Asian people".

They also claim they were "subjected to offensive materials being displayed in the office", their complaints were not investigated properly and they were denied opportunities offered to other staff.

Both men work at Beckett House near London Bridge, where about 200 staff oversee the removal of failed asylumseekers and illegal migrants.

Lawyers for the men say an internal report by a senior Home Office official supports their allegations. The case is set to go ahead at Croydon Employment Tribunal.

The pair were suspended in 2002 over claims that they were aggressive to a colleague who "grassed them up" over alleged bad driving.

They deny this and say their disciplinary case was mishandled. The Home Office said it could not comment.