Reform UK has announced plans to create a UK Deportation Command modelled on the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, sparking condemnation from rights groups who described the proposals as 'sadistic'. The party's home affairs spokesperson, Zia Yusuf, outlined the plans at a press conference in Dover, calling migration an 'invasion' and vowing to face down 'progressive outrage'.
Under the proposals, the new agency would have capacity to detain 24,000 people at any one time and deport up to 288,000 annually, operating five flights a day. Currently, the UK has approximately 2,500 detention spaces. The party also plans to scrap indefinite leave to remain, replacing it with a renewable five-year work visa and a dedicated spouse visa. Additionally, automatic home searches would be mandated for anyone referred to the Prevent counter-terrorism programme by three corroborating authorities.
Yusuf argued that US-style standoffs were unlikely in the UK because police are not routinely armed. 'There are more firearms in America than humans... We would not expect UK deportation command to need to carry weapons,' he said. He reiterated his claim that Britain was being 'invaded', stating: 'Make no mistake, as home secretary I will end and indeed reverse this invasion.'
The party also proposes 'visa freezes' on Pakistan, Afghanistan and Syria if those countries refuse to accept the return of migrants with no legal right to remain. A policy document states that a government led by Nigel Farage would seek to deport more than 600,000 people in its first parliament, including holders of indefinite leave to remain who fail to qualify for new time-limited visas.
Migrants' rights organisations have reacted with anger. Dora-Olivia Vicol, chief executive of the Work Rights Centre, said: 'We have watched in horror as ICE attacked migrant communities and citizens in the US – yet this is what Reform wants to base their immigration policies on? This is a sadistic vision of UK families and communities being ripped apart.' Natasha Tsangarides of Freedom from Torture called Yusuf's speech 'a grotesque display of ethno-nationalist rhetoric'.
