Enforcement in Action: Stories from the Front Line of UK Immigration Policy

Thursday 14 May 2026, 3.45pm
The Investcorp Theatre, St Antony's College

 Eddy Montgomery (Senior Director of Enforcement, Compliance and Crime, Home Office)

Immigration enforcement is often understood through headlines, but behind each story lies a complex set of operational, legal, political and human decisions. In this seminar, Eddy Montgomery, Director of Enforcement, Compliance and Crime (Home Office), draws on recent media coverage to explore what it means to deliver the UK’s immigration enforcement system in practice. Using publicly reported cases spanning foreign national offender removal, illegal working and employer sanctions, and safeguarding, the talk examines how political intent, public scrutiny and frontline realities intersect in the day‑to‑day work of Home Office staff responsible for turning policy into action.

This event is open to University of Oxford staff and students; for non-Oxford attendees, please send a request to communications@compas.ox.ac.uk

COMPAS Seminar Series Trinity Term 2026

Theme: ‘Immigration Enforcement in Practice’

Convened by Rob McNeil, Deputy Director, Migration Observatory.

These seminars will take place at 3.45pm on Thursdays of Weeks 2, 3, 4 and 7. Weeks 2, 4 and 7 are in the Mawby Room at Kellogg College; Week 3  is in the Investcorp Lecture Theatre, St Antony's College. All (except for Week 3) are hybrid with individual Zoom registration links. No registration is required to attend in person (except for Week 3).

Migration scholars and activists are often highly critical of border regimes and enforcement practices, while political parties and governments often feel the need to make bold promises of “smashing gangs”, stopping unauthorised border crossings or enacting deterrent policies.

Media reports and policymakers commonly centre these discussions on either abstract political and legal debates or emotive humanitarian stories.

Those charged with enforcing immigration policies or scrutinising their actions face a challenging task in upholding domestic political decisions and international law.

This seminar series aims to explore the process of immigration enforcement from the point of view of those charged with enacting it in the UK and the EU, while also looking at the radical shifts that have occurred in immigration enforcement practices in the USA in the first year of the second Trump administration.

Attendance is free. To join online, registration is essential.