Reform UK’s proposal to establish a US-style deportation agency has been condemned as “sadistic” by rights groups. The party’s home affairs spokesperson, Zia Yusuf, outlined plans for a UK Deportation Command capable of detaining 24,000 people at any one time and deporting up to 288,000 annually, operating five flights a day.
Yusuf, speaking at a press conference in Dover, described the number of migrants arriving in the country as an “invasion”. He said the proposed agency would not lead to violent standoffs seen in the US because policing in the UK is done by consent and officers would not be armed. However, he vowed to face down “progressive outrage” over the enforcement of immigration laws.
The party’s policy document also includes scrapping indefinite leave to remain in favour of a renewable five-year work visa and a dedicated spouse visa. It proposes automatic home searches for anyone referred to the Prevent counter-terrorism programme by three corroborating authorities. Additionally, Reform plans to impose visa freezes on Pakistan, Afghanistan and Syria if they refuse to accept returns of migrants with no legal right to remain.
Migrants’ rights organisations reacted with anger. Dora-Olivia Vicol, chief executive of the Work Rights Centre, called the plan “a sadistic vision of UK families and communities being ripped apart”. Natasha Tsangarides, associate director at Freedom from Torture, described Yusuf’s speech as “a grotesque display of ethno-nationalist rhetoric”.
