IMMIGRATION officers in Poole face either relocation to Reading or redundancy, the Daily Echo understands.

Ten members of staff are believed to be affected by the proposals which could be implemented within three months.

The Immigration Enforcement team, which shares offices with Border Force, works to prevent abuse of the UK’s borders, track immigration offenders and ensure compliance with immigration law.

Immigration Service Union (ISU) general secretary Lucy Moreton told the Daily Echo: “I’m aware of the proposals to close the Poole office and relocate the staff.

“With the uncertainly coming for immigration plans following Brexit it seems particularly short-sighted to reduce the in-country enforcement commitment. This isn’t just Poole, this is happening at locations up and down the UK. They (Home Office) seem to want to reduce and centralise enforcement capability.”

A source close to the Poole team said there are already concerns about staffing levels locally - at both Immigration Enforcement and Border Force.

“We simply don’t have enough people to search every boat, but there are people entering illegally on those boats. Cars are not being searched because we don’t have sufficient resources.

“Basically there are enough people to clear the passports, but not enough people to search everyone. We know people are attempting to enter illegally through Poole - they’ve managed to find a way into the port at Cherbourg.”

Earlier this week the Echo reported how 18 suspected illegal immigrants were discovered in a lorry leaving the Port of Poole late Saturday night.

Ten men, one woman and seven people claiming to be minors were found, the Home Office confirmed.

Mrs Moreton said: “Border Force is protected, so we are going to continue with the same staffing levels we have on the border.

“What is being eroded is our ability to pick people up and remove them once they have penetrated the border, or once they have overstayed.”