Home Office official tells man facing deportation it is his job to 'p**s him off'

Official said it was his 'aim at the end of the day to make it a challenging environment' for people like him

Undercover footage filmed at a Home Office reporting centre shows an official telling a man facing deportation it was his job to "piss him off" and "make it a challenging environment" for people like him.

The man, who secretly recorded the video obtained by solicitor Fahad Ansari, is seen telling the official behind a counter his situation was "worst than prison".

"I would rather be in prison mate than come here weekly signing on and all this," he said.

The official replied: "Yeah, but what you've got to understand is – and I'm going to talk to you on a level. You take the piss out the system, the system is going to take the piss out of you. You get me? We're not here to make life easy for you.

"It's a challenging environment we have got to make for people, yeah?

"It's working because it's pissing you off. Am I right? There you go. That's my aim at the end of the day, to make it a challenging environment for you.

"It's pissing you off. You're telling me it's pissing you off. There you go, I've done my job."

The 39-year-old man, who has since voluntarily returned to Pakistan, filmed the video at a Home Office reporting centre in London last year, the Guardian reports.

The man, who is not named, reportedly served a short prison sentence and the Home Office served him a deportation order.

But he was never sent back to Pakistan, where he has reportedly only spent one month of his life. Instead, he was asked to report weekly to the Home Office centre and was deprived from his right to work, rent or access NHS treatment.

The video emerged after the government came under attack for its "hostile environment" policy on illegal immigration following the Windrush scandal.

The man's solicitor, Faha Ansari, told the Guardian the policy aimed to create an environment "so utterly soul destroying to live in that people will voluntarily leave the UK".

A Home Office spokesman said the views expressed in the video do not represent Home Office policy.

Theresa May has yet refused to review the harsh immigration rules she introduced. Instead, Ms May told the House of Commons the government's immigration policy was enjoying widespread support, adding: "It is also right that the government takes action against those people who are accessing services despite being here illegally and not contributing to this country."

The man in the video is appealing against the deportation order by the Home Office from Pakistan. He reportedly came to the UK at the age of 18 after having lived in the US and Saudi Arabia.

A Home Office spokesman said it was investigating the footage and that any staff found to have breached the civil service code of conduct will face appropriate action.

He added:"Foreign nationals who abuse our hospitality by committing crimes in the UK should be in no doubt of our determination to deport them.”