PRESS RELEASE – 25/09/2025
For immediate release
Digital IDs will deepen exclusion and increase exploitation of undocumented people, warns Regularise
The UK Government is expected to announce the introduction of digital ID cards, promoted as a way to identify and exclude undocumented people from society.
Regularise, a grassroots organisation campaigning for the rights of undocumented migrants and against the UK state’s infringement of their human rights, warns that such measures will entrench discrimination against migrants and racialised communities, pushing people into even greater precarity and exploitation.
“Undocumented people are part of UK society. They are already barred from working formally, renting a home, accessing benefits and living with dignity — yet most do work to survive and participate in our economy. Digital IDs will not solve these issues — they will only increase harms,” said Munya Radzi, from Regularise.
History shows that ID systems designed to exclude communities reinforce prejudice and divisions in society, often fuelling violence. In Apartheid South Africa, Black South Africans were forced to carry passbooks controlling their movement and livelihood. In France today, racial profiling linked to ID checks is recognised as a systemic, structural, and institutional problem. By targeting undocumented people through digital IDs, the UK risks creating the same dynamics — embedding racial profiling, heightening fear of exclusion, and making daily life more miserable for everyone.
“Deterrence policies like this only empower those who exploit people already made vulnerable by the UK’s punitive ‘hostile environment’. The public should not be misled into thinking this is a good idea. Digital IDs will legitimise prejudice and fuel hostility. In the UK today, we already see hostility in far-right, anti-migrant demonstrations — measures like this will only embolden them further. They will also hit people facing digital poverty or exclusion, risking another Windrush-style scandal. Further excluding people who are simply trying to survive, and handing their existence to those ready to control or exploit them, is reckless. This idea was buried years ago for good reason — it must not be resurrected,” added Munya Radzi.
Regularise calls on the Government to abandon this policy and instead commit to creating safe, accessible, and inclusive pathways for undocumented people to regularise their status. If that were achieved, these divisive IDs would not even be under discussion.
ENDS
Notes for editors: Regularise is a migrant founded and led grassroots campaign group which seeks to improve the quality of life of undocumented migrants living in the UK by attaining basic rights & a safer and more equitable path to settlement and citizenship.
- Contact: info@regularise.org
- Website: https://regularise.org
- Rights Not Raids: https://regularise.org/rights-not-raids
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